if it is in our power to prevent something badfrom happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparablemoral importance, we ought, morally, to do it
interesting quote!! I think this separates the morals of individuals, inherently it ethically makes sense to do good here to help others when it cannot hurt you
If we accept any principle of impartiality, universalizability,equality, or whatever, we cannot discriminate against someone merelybecause he is far away from us (or we are far away from him).
Interesting quote! It offers a valuable perspective, because many people would claim this as a reason to not help someone
Again, of course, I admit that there is a psychological differencebetween the cases; one feels less guilty about doing nothing if one
guilt should not be the deciding factor though, or the driving force behind doing something morally "good"
if everyone in circumstances like mine gave ?5to the Bengal Relief Fund, there would be enough to provide food,shelter, and medical care for the refugees; there is no reason why Ishould give more than anyone else in the same circumstances as Iam; therefore I have no obligation to give more than ?5.
then why are people so hesitant to do it
To say this is not to deny the principle that peoplein the same circumstances have the same obligations, but to point outthat the fact that others have given, or may be expected to give, is arelevant circumstance: those giving after it has become known thatmany others are giving and those giving before are not in the samecircumstances.
obligation is an interesting perspective as well
The result ofeveryone doing what he really ought to do cannot be worse than theresult of everyone doing less than he ought to do, although the resultof everyone doing what he reasonably believes he ought to do could be.
people are sometimes in their own world so much so that they don't realize how well off they are and how capable they are of helping others
We would not be sacrificing anything significant if we wereto continue to wear our old clothes, and give the money to faminerelief. By doing so, we would be preventing another person from starv-ing
at what point though is that money "earned" and at what point should it be donated? where is the line? Because people who work hard SHOULD be able to use their money
. Unfortunately, for many people the idea that"it's the government's responsibility" is a reason for not giving whichdoes not appear to entail any political action eithe
people tend to blame the government or higher power, when in reality everyone could be contributing a little bit
sions. At the individual level, people have, withfew exceptions, not responded to the situation in any
argument to support claim
ns. The decisions and actions of human beings can prevthis kind of suffering. Unfortunately, human beings have not mthe necessary dec