Skip to main content
Log in

Responding to Global Poverty: Review Essay of Peter Singer, The Life you can Save

Journal of Bioethical Inquiry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. Unger writes, “Our intuitions on very many cases, both hypothetical and even actual, do nothing toward reflecting these Values, as they’re produced by powerfully Distortional Mental Tendencies that prevent us from responding in line with the Values” (Unger 1999, 173–175).

  2. Why does he have no insurance? Well, assume that if he had, the company would not cover damages caused by natural incidents, or that it would not cover them since Bob himself directed the avalanche towards his own new house.

References

  • Barry, C. 2005. Applying the contribution principle. Metaphilosophy 36(1/2): 210–227. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9973.2005.00363.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barry, C., and G. Øverland. 2009. When can we risk harming those we want to help? Working Paper.

  • Cullity, G. 2004. The moral demands of affluence. Oxford: Clarendon.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Waal, A. 1997. Famine crimes: Politics and the disaster relief industry in Africa. London: African Rights and the International African Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterly, W. 2007. The white man’s burden. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feyzioglu, T., V. Swaroop, and M. Zhu. 1998. A panel data analysis of the fungibility of foreign aid. The World Bank Economic Review 12: 29–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horton, K. Forthcoming. The epistemic question: Potential solutions. In Ethical questions and international NGOs, ed. Keith Horton and Chris Roche. Dordrecht: Springer.

  • Miller, D. 2001. Distributing responsibilities. Journal of Political Philosophy 9: 453–471. doi:10.1111/1467-9760.00136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minoiu, C., and S.G. Reddy (2009). UN-DESA Working Paper, Available at http://www.un.org/esa/policy/backgroundpapers/odaandgrowth.pdf.

  • Øverland, G. 2005. Contractual killing. Ethics 115: 692–720. doi:10.1086/430751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pogge, T. 2002. World poverty and human rights. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pogge, T. 2007. Moral priorities for international human rights NGOs. In Ethics in action: The ethical challenges of international human rights nongovernmental organizations, ed. D.A. Bell and J.-M. Coicaud, 218–256. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajan, R.G. 2005. Aid and growth: the policy challenge. Finance & Development 42: 53–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. 2002. How to judge globalism. The American Prospect, (Winter):A2–A6.

  • Singer, P. 1972. Famine, affluence and morality. Philosophy & Public Affairs 1: 229–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer, P. 2009. The life you can save. Melbourne: Text.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smillie, I. 1995. The alms bazaar: Altruism under fire—Non-profit organizations and international development. London: ITDG.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiglitz, J. 2002. Globalization and its discontents. London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terry, F. 2002. Condemned to repeat? The paradox of humanitarian action. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Unger, P. 1996. Living high and letting die. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Unger, P. 1999. Précis of living high and letting die. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 59: 173–175. doi:10.2307/2653465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wenar, L. 2003. What we owe to distant others. Politics, Philosophy & Economics 2(3): 283–304. doi:10.1177/1470594X030023001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wenar, L. 2006. Accountability in international development aid. Ethics & International Affairs 20: 1–23. doi:10.1111/j.1747-7093.2006.00001.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian Barry.

Additional information

(Singer 2009) Christian Barry, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, (Australian National University) and Gerhard Øverland , Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (University of Melbourne). We thank seminar participants at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne for discussion of these issues. We are particularly grateful to Thom Brooks, Helen Taylor and Leif Wenar for comments on earlier versions, and to Alejandra Mancilla for research assistance.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Barry, C., Øverland, G. Responding to Global Poverty: Review Essay of Peter Singer, The Life you can Save . Bioethical Inquiry 6, 239–247 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-009-9159-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-009-9159-0

Keywords

Navigation