Posts Tagged ‘Peter Singer’

Peter Singer

In 1972, Peter Singer wrote:

“if I am walking past a shallow pond and see a child drowning in it, I ought to wade in and pull the child out. This will mean getting my clothes muddy, but this is insignificant, while the death of the child would presumably be a very bad thing.”

Since then, the “shallow pond” argument has remained remained a powerful force in conversations about justice and the obligations of the world’s affluent people to the severely poor. And, since Singer moved to Princeton several years ago, he’s been able to move his arguments from philosophical circles to the broader public. (His NY Times article, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” first brought to the general public his views on aid to the severely poor. And his targets have included both billionaires and regular folks.)

Earlier this year Singer released his newest book, The Life You Can Save. If you’ve been following Singer’s publications since he originally wrote about the shallow pond then there won’t be a lot new in this book. (There’s been vast amounts of responses to his arguments, counter arguments offered by Singer and others, etc.) But if you’ve been a casual follower, then there’s plenty of interesting things to be found here. He discusses, among other things, the philosophical arguments supporting his original view, responds to the counter arguments, and suggests, again, that regular folks give a small percentage of their income to help the severely poor. And, now, nearly four decades later, his argument remains as potent as ever.

Sir Edward Downes and Wife Joan

A few days ago, looking for the obituary of Darrell Powers, I found an obit in the New York Times about the assisted suicide of Sir Edward Downes and his wife. Downes’ wife Joan was terminally ill with cancer. Downes, while not terminally ill, was 85 and losing both his sight and hearing. The couple elected to travel to Switzerland and end their lives together.

Subsequently I found a series of posts over at Double X addressing the couples decision from a variety of view points. It’s a great exchange about an issue that’s sure to become more and more prevalent in the coming years. At this time in my life I’m firmly in the camp that supports legalizing this practice. Not throwing open the doors mind you but it is cruelly bad policy to keep it illegal.

I think the American culture surrounding death is very different from that around the world. We’re imbued with the idea that life is priceless and every additional second is worth pursuing at any cost. It colors our debate about the health care system and I’m excited to see if this congresses go round with the question produces some sort of real discussion about when enough is enough. Will we step back and reconsider the idea that death is bad or death is good and entertain the notion that death just isn’t.