In Peter Singer's, The Singer Solution to World Poverty, he lays out a very basic and easy to comprehend idea on how to address the problem of world poverty. Simply put, what money you do have that is being used for necessities is okay to use. However, all other money, as close as a family can go to reducing all luxuries to almost nothing, should be given to world needs and donated. Singer uses a couple of thought experiments to propose his idea and also takes some from other writers.
Singer's idea is a really good one. The whole idea makes complete sense, and to Americans especially, this is a must read. However, the whole idea is super unrealistic. I am pretty sure that most of us spend thousands of dollars on luxuries each year, and we usually have no problem with doing so. Some people spend most of their lives working for the luxuries that they get to have because of the amount of excess money they are able to attain. I don't see how people are just going to give that up. Also, with this idea, people would basically have no retirement money and therefore, they couldn't retire. People reach an age that they almost can't work and sometimes they just can't seem to find the urge to. The life that Singer proposes would have lost a great sense of enjoyment, and I am pretty sure that is something that most people just won't agree to.
All in all, the idea is a really good one. I just think that it is too unrealistic. I think that the idea would be much better on a smaller scale and even though not everything would be fixed, the world would more than likely be a better place.
I agree with your argument that people would never be able to retire if they gave all their excess money to charity. However when you say that people wouldn't give up their luxuries because they like them too much I think that's what Singer is arguing is the problem. We are so materialistic we don't care about the plight of our fellow human beings.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the argument that Singer is making is an unrealistic one. The scale that he is talking about is much to large as well. However, when you say that there will be no enjoyment in life without being materialistic is exactly what Singer is saying people need to separate their minds from. He is trying to show that these "necessities" are not necessary at all, and people can enjoy their life without them.
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