PHIL 251 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Supererogation
Document Summary
In november 1971, the dying and suffering in east bengal became inevitable. East bengal was struck by a cyclone, constant poverty and a civil war which rendered its people destitute refugees. Richer nations have the capacity to reduce further suffering to small proportions. However, at the individual level people haven"t responded to the situation in a significant way. Britain"s share of relief funds was one of the more significant amounts, but compared to the non-recoverable development costs of the anglo- french concorde project, it isn"t much. Australia too contributed a huge amount, however this was only a fraction of the amount that was actually used to build sydney"s new opera house. Due to insufficient funds, india would have to choose between allowing these refugees starve or redirecting the money from several developmental projects to their cause. Redirection of funds could however lead to more deaths due to starvation in the future.