Interesting how imaginative philosophers can be when trying to debunk Singer's arguments. They look like rationalizations to me. For what it's worth, I've read many of the philosophical responses to Singer's drowning child thought experiment, and Singer's argument still looks solid, and that makes me uncomfortable. I should be more generous than I am, but every time I hear Singer speak he motivates me to behave a little better. That's good, but I could behave much better still. None of us are saints, but let's be honest, we could be better, so let's encourage eachother to be better. Three cheers for Peter Singer! He doesn't just have a knack for clear, logical and forceful arguments, he's a good man too.

@elliotgoodine954

10 ай бұрын

Thanks for this thoughtful response, John. I agree with you by and large: lots of the replies to Singer seems to be made with an air of confirmation bias, in order to avoid the uncomfortable thought that most of us should be doing better morally. And even if Singer's argument isn't perfect, you're very right that Singer deserves praise for helping a lot of people make positive moral changes in their lives. Based on what his paper says, even Timmerman would agree that most of us ought to be doing a lot more than we currently do to help those in need.

Good video, thanks.

Awesome

Because it’s loaded with fallacy and assumptions that do not apply to the real world.

@alexaw373

5 ай бұрын

how so?

Is there an argument for Singer starting with a moral judgment of evil?

@elliotgoodine954

2 ай бұрын

Singer's overall argument that we have an obligation to give more to charity does start with a moral judgment - he thinks that it it would be wrong, and obviously wrong, to not save the drowning child. Once he establishes that premise, he argues that the wrongness of this failure to help is not much different from the failure to give to an effective charity. One thing to note: the concept of 'evil' isn't important for Singer. His idea is simply that there is a strong intuitive wrongness that any thoughtful person would recognize in a failure to rescue the drowning child. Does this answer what you're asking?

singer is a psychopath

@elliotgoodine954

2 ай бұрын

That seems like an ad hominem attack. If there’s something psychopathic about his argument, or if there’s a reason to reject his claims, let’s focus on that. It makes for better philosophy.