Peter Singer Analogy

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America is a country known the world over as one of the most affluent places to have ever existed. We are known to regularly purchase expensive frivolities: that humongous television, Mercedes-Benz’s, the list just goes on and on. In Peter Singer’s “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”, the argument is made against this affluence and for Americans to donate every possible cent to making the world a better place. To make this argument more poignant Singer presents a pair of analogies: “the Brazilian film Central Station” and a man named Bob who owns a Bugatti. While these analogies are very convincing, Singer stumbles later on by becoming too direct with the audience. Singer’s first analogy is a summary of the Brazilian film Central Station:…show more content…
Bob has just purchased his retirement car: a valuable old Bugatti. Bob enjoys not only riding in his Bugatti but the financial security it represents. After all, if he hits a rough patch, he can just sell it. One day Bob parks his car and gets out taking a walk next to some railroad tracks. He spots a runaway train headed straight for a boy playing on the tracks. It is impossible for Bob to stop the train; however, he can flip a switch that would make the train switch paths. There is just one catch: the train will destroy his prized Bugatti. Bob decides to let the child die to ensure everything his Bugatti…show more content…
Dora actually faced the child she had to condemn to death whereas Bob knew nothing about the child he could have saved. "Unlike Dora, Bob did not have to look into the eyes of the child he was sacrificing for his own material comfort" (381). Singers believes that even if the situation’s natures were different both Bob and Dora should have done everything in their power to save their child. Singer is a self-proclaimed utilitarian philosopher, meaning he looks at an action’s consequences to determine its morality. Dora’s child lived, ergo her action must be moral; whereas Bob’s child died, making his actions amoral according to
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