Essay on Duty versus Charity Why a Distinction is Essential

In the late 1960’s and into the 1970’s, the South Asian region of East Bengal (then East Pakistan, now the country of Bangladesh) was undergoing a severe famine, due to rampant poverty, a civil war and frequent cyclones. The lack of overseas help to this impoverished region was probably what triggered Peter Singer to write the article Famine, Affluence and Morality, wherein he claims that world hunger and famine can be prevented and possibly eradicated if everyone in the wealthy nations did their bit to help the sufferers monetarily. Singer further claims that duty and charity should not be as distinct as they are now, and hints at uniting the two. Upon careful analysis of Singer’s paper, one can find multiple loopholes in this proposal,†¦show more content†¦A duty is any action which is not only correct in when it is performed, but wrong when flouted. Charity, on the other hand, is an act of giving that is upright to do, but not wrong when not done. Her e lies the major difference between the two – a duty is something that must be done in order for the existence of society, whereas charity is voluntary and uncompelled. It is this distinction that Singer wishes to erase, or at least blur. He wants to make monetary help to the distant needy a dutiable action rather than charity on a moral level. In fact, Singer proposes that everyone who possesses a reasonable amount of resources must donate a significant portion of their wealth and assets, reducing their self to â€Å"the level of marginal utility† (Singer 32). If not that, he suggests one ought to donate enough to make the â€Å"consumer society†¦ slow down and perhaps disappear entirely† (Singer 32). However, there must be a limit to doing so, since slowing the economy down by a lot might result in the loss of resources that could be given away. Singer understands that there might be objections to his ideas. 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