Famine, Affluence, and Morality — Philosophy & Public Affairs

Claims

1. singer-impartiality
   Singer argues that geographic distance creates no morally relevant distinction between people we can help — the duty to prevent suffering applies equally regardless of whether the person in need is nearby or far away.

   "It makes no moral difference whether the person I can help is a neighbor's child ten yards from me or a Bengali whose name I shall never know, ten thousand miles away."

   Locator: page: 231 · Quote language: en
2. singer-principle
   Singer's central principle is that if we can prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought to do it — and this applies to preventing suffering anywhere in the world.

   "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"

   Locator: page: 231 · Quote language: en