PHIL 0990I Study Guide - Final Guide: Thomas Pogge, Negative And Positive Rights, Supererogation

• School: Brown University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 0990I
• Professor: Elizabeth Campbell

Document Summary

In this paper i will evaluate singer"s and pogge"s arguments regarding global poverty. I will then identify the main strength and weakness of both arguments and decide which one is most likely to convince people to help the global poor. Singer claims that we should donate money to effective and well-run organizations because he believes helping people and preventing them from suffering is an obligatory task, not a supererogatory one. He says if we walk by a pond and see a little child in it we would walk in and pull the child out, even if our really nice, expensive pair of shoes would get ruined. It is obvious, he claims, in this case, that a human life is much more important than even the most expensive pair of shoes. He then applies this same argument to poverty across the world.