Philosophy 20: Ethics

Pierce College

Department of History, Philosophy, & Sociology

Group Exercise for Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality"

(Notes on the importance of group exercises.)

Group Work Summary: Groups press the boundaries of Singer's Prevention Principle.

Situation #1 You come upon what appears to be a car wreck with injuries.

Situation #2: There is an outbreak of a disease where the vaccine doesn't yet exist. But the disease is only occurring in an area that is populated by people who don't look like you.

Situation #3: A starving person asks you for a dime.

Situation #4: Someone is knocking frantically at your door at 2AM. They appear to be bloodied.

Situation #5: Your in-class, genuinely innocent neighbor asks for the answers to the quiz (the in-class neighbor will take the make-up quiz after class, and you got an "A" on the original quiz the day before). Your neighbor then goes on to say: "if I don't do well, I'll be kicked back to the clink, where racially offensive tattoos will be forcefully put upon my face. The reason why I could not take quiz yesterday is this: I was waylaid by bandits."

Step 0 (five minutes): Identify group members' roles (e.g., who will be your leader, presenter, scribe, editor, etc.). Then, for each situation, stipulate two or three relevant conditions.

Step 1 (ten minutes): Come up with what Singer would say would be the best possible action given the situation, with is Prevention Principle in mind. What would Singer say would be a bad reaction given the situation? What action could appear to be a bad action but is nevertheless justified given the situation?

Step 2 (twenty minutes): Each group presents their findings.