A Philiosophy Question
Discussion
I watch a television advert that tells me my £10 will provide a child with clean drinking water and stop it dying of a water-borne disease.
I ignore the advert, pop to the shops, and see something I don't need, and have never really wanted, - say a CD - for £10, but think I'll buy it anyway just because I feel like it.
Am I then saying that I place more value on that CD than on a human life?
I ignore the advert, pop to the shops, and see something I don't need, and have never really wanted, - say a CD - for £10, but think I'll buy it anyway just because I feel like it.
Am I then saying that I place more value on that CD than on a human life?
Not really no. If you were faced with someone about to actually kill said person unless you gave them a tenner, then yes.
If you did give that money to the charity, perhaps 50% would go on administrative costs then there's the chance that someone else would have given the money, then that the money would go to that particular village, for that particular project, etc.
So, you could argue that the tangible benefit to yourself of owning that CD is worth more to you than the small chance that the £10 you give is the actual life-or-death difference to the life of someone you've never heard of and will in all likelyhood never meet.
Some people will still consider that to be selfish, but in my book it's a fair distance away from actually preventing or allowing the death of someone.
If you did give that money to the charity, perhaps 50% would go on administrative costs then there's the chance that someone else would have given the money, then that the money would go to that particular village, for that particular project, etc.
So, you could argue that the tangible benefit to yourself of owning that CD is worth more to you than the small chance that the £10 you give is the actual life-or-death difference to the life of someone you've never heard of and will in all likelyhood never meet.
Some people will still consider that to be selfish, but in my book it's a fair distance away from actually preventing or allowing the death of someone.
You place more value on the pleasure you get from listening to the CD than the pleasure you get knowing you've donated the money to the charity.
We're forever told by charities we should care about all humanity. There is an obvious hierarchy of care though - primarily for most people is care of themselves and their families, next may come care of their local community as that's where you have to live day-to-day. etc etc. Where does care of people you have no contact with in far-flung locations fit into the hierarchy?
From a purely unemotional viewpoint, let's assume we manage to get clean water to everyone in the world. What are the consequences of that? More people survive into adulthood, so more resources are required for them and their families to survive. Where do these resources come from? Where is the extra food grown for example? Solving a single resource issue rarely solves the whole problem.
We're forever told by charities we should care about all humanity. There is an obvious hierarchy of care though - primarily for most people is care of themselves and their families, next may come care of their local community as that's where you have to live day-to-day. etc etc. Where does care of people you have no contact with in far-flung locations fit into the hierarchy?
From a purely unemotional viewpoint, let's assume we manage to get clean water to everyone in the world. What are the consequences of that? More people survive into adulthood, so more resources are required for them and their families to survive. Where do these resources come from? Where is the extra food grown for example? Solving a single resource issue rarely solves the whole problem.
evenflow said:
I watch a television advert that tells me my £10 will provide a child with clean drinking water and stop it dying of a water-borne disease.
I ignore the advert, pop to the shops, and see something I don't need, and have never really wanted, - say a CD - for £10, but think I'll buy it anyway just because I feel like it.
Am I then saying that I place more value on that CD than on a human life?
Ahh, but you know what you get when you spend £10 on a CD.....a CD.I ignore the advert, pop to the shops, and see something I don't need, and have never really wanted, - say a CD - for £10, but think I'll buy it anyway just because I feel like it.
Am I then saying that I place more value on that CD than on a human life?
£10 donated to a charity could be eaten up by all sorts of things.
A cynic would say you value your cd more than a charity CEO's stay at the Dorchester
Taking your logic further, you could argue the same point with regard to any spending above and beyond the capability of the world's most needy. If that is so, we are all guilty, so don't worry about it.
Enjoy the CD!
Have you seen this child face to face? Are you certain that your £10 will save their life or have you just been told so by some bleeding heart liberal? How do you know they even exist?
In my opinion our moral lanaguage has evolved in order to protect those of us in our immediate surroundings. We're all genetically pre-programmed not to give a s
t unless it's in our face or we've given it some serious thought. If you didn't believe that then you'd end up giving away everything you own to the poor.
If "man is the measure of all things" then morality is all about perspective. I personally choose to care when it's practical. I think most people do too.
You could probably do with CD wallet to go with that album maybe some nice trainers too.
In my opinion our moral lanaguage has evolved in order to protect those of us in our immediate surroundings. We're all genetically pre-programmed not to give a s
t unless it's in our face or we've given it some serious thought. If you didn't believe that then you'd end up giving away everything you own to the poor.If "man is the measure of all things" then morality is all about perspective. I personally choose to care when it's practical. I think most people do too.
You could probably do with CD wallet to go with that album maybe some nice trainers too.
Edited by G_T on Tuesday 10th March 11:33
I think part of the problem with charities these days is that a vast amount of money donated goes to pay the administrators etc........
Perhaps when they talk of taxing us for MMGW they ought to consider that the tax they wish to impose would provide safe and clean drinking water for millions.
Perhaps when they talk of taxing us for MMGW they ought to consider that the tax they wish to impose would provide safe and clean drinking water for millions.
Does the whole of the tenner reach the child in the form of infrastructure etc...?
Or is your ten pounds simply prolonging suffering in a region that has obviously had it's natural capacity to sustain human life exhausted and would have previously resulted in migration to pastures new or the cycle of life - death through disease and starvation. Both the latter would allow the land to recover when the time was right to sustain habitation again...
I'm with the 2nd point.
Or is your ten pounds simply prolonging suffering in a region that has obviously had it's natural capacity to sustain human life exhausted and would have previously resulted in migration to pastures new or the cycle of life - death through disease and starvation. Both the latter would allow the land to recover when the time was right to sustain habitation again...
I'm with the 2nd point.
Edited by Asterix on Tuesday 10th March 11:36
G'kar said:
Wrong place to ask. There are only 165 good people on here.
Miaow...I'd think you're valuing and appreciating something closer to your immediate needs and concerns. Were the starving child to be infront of you on the the rack in HMV then you might think differently, but it's not, it's at a remove.
By rack I mean shelving unit, not medieval torture device. That's just wrong.
evenflow said:
I watch a television advert that tells me my £10 will provide a child with clean drinking water and stop it dying of a water-borne disease.
I ignore the advert, pop to the shops, and see something I don't need, and have never really wanted, - say a CD - for £10, but think I'll buy it anyway just because I feel like it.
Am I then saying that I place more value on that CD than on a human life?
You do know that if you shop around you can get 3 or 4 CD's for your tenner. I ignore the advert, pop to the shops, and see something I don't need, and have never really wanted, - say a CD - for £10, but think I'll buy it anyway just because I feel like it.
Am I then saying that I place more value on that CD than on a human life?
It's all short-sighted anyway - you assist one generation to live, they then have children and the population increases, and problems worsen as a result. We should either allow nature to take its course, or suggest such populations move to an area capable of supporting reliable yields from farming - whose idea was it to give food to people so that they could continue to live in an infertile desert anyway - utter idiocy. 
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