September 05, 2015
Samaritanism and Duties
Singer’s famous example is taken to establish that some acts of Samaritanism are morally required. He writes, “if it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening,…
Posts filed under charity
August 28, 2015
We’re Obligated to Save Many Drowning Children: In Defense of Singer
Jason wrote a nice post the other day on Peter Singer’s famous drowning child thought experiment. In short, Jason argues that showing that we’d be obligated to save one drowning…
August 19, 2015
On Singer’s Thought Experiment
Apropos Matt’s recent post: Peter Singer argues we have stringent duties to give to charity. He relies upon a thought experiment: One Drowning Child You come across a child drowning…
June 19, 2014
A Little Bit of History Repeating
Yesterday, I said this. Whatever one thinks the proper role of government is, it surely is not this. At a bare minimum, we must demand that the government not force…
June 18, 2014
Reverse Hugo, with a Twist
In Victor Hugo’s great novel Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is sentenced to five years on the prison galleys for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family. It is an outrageous…
December 16, 2013
Will Private Charity Be Enough?
Matt Zwolinski recently discussed arguments for a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) at BHL and Libertarianism.org. One of those arguments was that a BIG might be required on libertarian grounds because…