PHIL 1550 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Supererogation, The Affluent Society, Universalizability
19 Apr 2016
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Singer argues that the indifference that peoples in relatively affluent societies show toward suffering in. These days activists distinguish between: the global south cannot be justified: global north: relatively affluent; includes north america, europe, global south; relatively impoverished and economically dependent on the north; includes latin. Singer believes that there is a better response to the suffering of others. He begins by assuming that suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad. The second assumption: if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it (555). If i see a child drowning in a shallow pool, i wade in. However, singer argues that this obligation takes no account of proximity or distance. Nor does it matter if i"m the only one who can intervene, or if i"m one of millions. and pull the child out.
