Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy University of San Diego 5/23/2015(c) Lawrence M....
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Transcript of Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy University of San Diego 5/23/2015(c) Lawrence M....
Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D.Professor of PhilosophyUniversity of San Diego
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 1
World Hunger & World Hunger & Moral ObligationMoral ObligationWorld Hunger & World Hunger &
Moral ObligationMoral Obligation
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 2
Overview
1. Are People the Problem?
2. The Case for Helping Other Countries
3. The Case Against Helping Other Countries
4. Conclusion
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 3
1. Are People the Problem?
The Bet–In 1980, two secular prophets
made a $1,000 bet about the future of the planet.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 4
Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb (1968) and How to be a Survivor, bet that the world would get worse and worse.
This is an example of the apocalyptic attitude one sometimes encounters in discussions of world hunger and the environment.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 5
Julian Simon
Julian Simon, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Maryland and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, bet that the world would get better and better.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 6
The Terms of the Bet
Ehrlich picked the indicators: the change in the price of chromium, copper, nickel, tin, and tungsten I real, uninflated dollars over a 10 year period.– If prices went up, Simon would pay
Ehrlich– If prices went down, Ehrlich would pay
Simon
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 7
The Outcome
Ehrlich lost.– The price of all five metals went down, even in
real dollars Ehrlich has not made a bet since then. The interesting question that this raises is
whether fewer people is the answer to the problem of world hunger. Simon maintains that people are the real source of wealth in the world, and that we need more—not fewer—people if the world is to get better and better.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 8
Population Trends, 1950-2050
Source:http://www.chem.brown.edu/chem12/un%20population/unPopulation.html
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 11
Total Fertility Rate 2004Over 2.1 (replacement rate)
1 Somalia 6.84 2 Afghanistan 6.75 3 Niger 6.75 4 Uganda 6.74 5 Yemen 6.67 6 Congo, 6.62 25 Rwanda 5.49 36 Sudan 4.85 49 Iraq 4.28 52 Pakistan 4.14 113 Greenland 2.41 Source: CIA: The World Factbook http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 12
Total Fertility Rate 20041.6 – 2.1
135 Chile 2.02 143 Brazil 1.93 153 Thailand 1.88 154 Ireland 1.87 162 New Zealand 1.79 165 Norway 1.78 167 Australia 1.76 172 Denmark 1.74 173 Finland 1.73 179 Cuba 1.66 180 Sweden 1.66 181 United Kingdom 1.66 182 Netherlands 1.66 187 Canada 1.61
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 13
Total Fertility
Rate 2004Below 1.6
194 European Union 1.48 195 Portugal 1.47 196 Switzerland 1.43 202 Japan 1.39 203 Poland 1.39 204 Germany 1.39 208 Austria 1.36 209 Greece 1.33 215 Italy 1.28 216 Spain 1.28 218 Russia 1.27 220 Korea, South 1.26 223 Lithuania 1.19 224 Singapore 1.05 226 Hong Kong 0.91
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 14
Changing Mortality Rates
Although fertility rates are declining, mortality rates are also important and they are creating a counter-pressure in terms of population decrease.– Overall, people are living longer– Far fewer people die in early childhood (5 years old or
younger) The overall effect is that, although fewer people
are being born, they stay around on the earth for a longer time!
Another important factor is the impact of HIV-AIDS, especially in Africa.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 15
HIV/AIDSrates
1 Swaziland 38.80 2003 est. 2 Botswana 37.30 2003 est. 3 Lesotho 28.90 2003 est. 4 Zimbabwe 24.60 2001 est. 5 South Africa 21.50 2003 est. 6 Namibia 21.30 2003 est. 7 Zambia 16.50 2003 est. 57 Russia 1.10 2001 est. 59 India 0.90 2001 est.63 Venezuela 0.70 2001 est. 64 Spain 0.70 2001 est. 69 United States 0.60 2003 est.85 Mexico 0.30 2003 est. 87 Canada 0.30 2003 est. 108 Australia 0.10 2003 est. 122 Ireland 0.10 2001 est. 168 Svalbard 0.00 2001
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 16
The Anaconda Effect
Rapid population changes often look like an anaconda snake that has just eaten a large animal.– Just as we can see the animal moving through
the snake, so we can see the change moving through history.
– The baby boom, for example, moves through history like a bulge, affecting the number of people in a given age distribution.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 19
Aging Populations
http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2004/english/ch2/page5.htm
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census (2000).
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 20
United States Foreign Aid, 1 Net ODA in US Dollars
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 21
United States Foreign Aid, 2 Net ODA as percentage of GNP
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp
The Income and Wealth Gap
Consider these global figures, provided by The Economist magazine in a 2011 article on “Global Leaders.” The richest one percent of the world’s population controls over 40% of the world’s wealth, while the bottom half of the world’s population control only 1% of its wealth. This is a staggering discrepancy between the top and the bottom.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 22
Jan Pen’s Parade
One way of visualizing the discrepancy in wealth and inequality around the world was suggested by the Dutch economist Jan Pen in his book Income Distribution. Imagine a parade in which the people in the parade pass by in a steady stream, taking an hour from the first marcher to the last. Further imagine, Pen suggests, that these people went in order, based on their income, those who make the least at the head of the parade with the biggest earners bring up the rear. Furthermore, and this is the key element, imagine that a person’s height was proportionate to his or her income, with an average height being equivalent to an average income. At first, the marchers wouldn’t even be visible: losing money, their height would unfortunately put them below the surface. They would be followed by midgets, the jobless and the working poor—for half an hour. A total of forty-five minutes would have elapsed before the first person of average height. With six minutes left, the marchers are twelve feet tall, and growing fast. The last four hundred marchers are each over two miles tall.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 23
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 24
The Case for HelpingOther Countries
The Argument from Virtue The Issue of Complicity The Group Egoist Argument The Strict Utilitarian Argument The Basic Rights Argument The Kantian Imperfect Duty
Argument
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 25
The Argument from Virtue
The Moral Force of Suffering– In the face of deep
suffering, we cannot help but to respond with compassion
The Issue of Luck The Place of the
Children
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 26
The Issue of Complicity
We don’t deserve to be born into an affluent society any more than we deserve to be born into an impoverished society
However, we do benefit from the exploitation of poorer societies
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 27
The Group Egoist Argument
There may be good, self-centered reasons for aiding other countries
The basic argument– Moral Premise: We ought to do whatever
helps our group’s welfare.– Empirical Premise: Helping some other
countries will benefit the United States– Conclusion: We ought to help some
other countries.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 28
The Strict Utilitarian Argument
Peter Singer has argued that as
utilitarians we ought to seek to reduce the overall amount of
suffering in the world, even at great cost to
those of us who have more affluent life
styles..
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 29
The Basic Rights Argument
Henry Shue, in Basic Rights, has argued that
»everyone has a right to minimal subsistence
»this is a positive right, i.e., one that imposes obligations on others to assist in meeting this right
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 30
The Kantian Imperfect Duty Argument
Kant distinguishes between:– Perfect duties: require specific actions and
conditions that can be met all the time, such as the duty to tell the truth
– Imperfect duties: require that we perform some among a group of actions
The duty to benevolence is an imperfect duty, requiring us to help some of the poor and starving some of the time.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 31
Killing and Letting Die
Some philosophers, such as Peter Singer, have questioned the moral significance of the distinction between killing and letting die.
– Is it morally wrong to let someone die when we can easily present their death without great risk or harm to ourselves?
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 32
The Case against Helping Other Countries
The Lifeboat Argument The Effectiveness Argument The Libertarian Argument The Particularity Argument The Liberal State Argument
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 33
The Lifeboat Argument
Garrett Hardin, in “Lifeboat Ethics,” maintains that we have a duty not to help the poor and starving of other countries.
lifeboat.ram
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 34
The Lifeboat Metaphor Hardin claims that
rich nations are like lifeboats in a sea with the poor of the world swimming around them.
If the rich nations let the poor ones into the lifeboat, the boat will be swamped and everyone will be lost.
http://www.es.ucsb.edu/faculty/hardin.htm
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 35
Evaluating the Metaphor
Presumes rich nations are like boats, poor are like swimmers
Presumes ultimate fate of lifeboat is independent of fate of those in the water
Ignores the question of whether some may have been pushed into the water.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 36
The Effectiveness Argument
Claims that aid just doesn’t work:– Bureaucracies tend to perpetuate
themselves and the problem they administer
– Local economies can be destroyed by aid
– Aid can create unhealthy dependence– Local corruption can prevent aid from
reaching its intended recipients
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 37
The Libertarian Argument
Libertarians claim we have only negative rights and only negative duties, I.e., duties of non-interference.
Libertarians see the right to property as being almost as important as the right to life--thus there must be an extremely strong justification for depriving people of their property.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 38
The Particularity Argument
Special Obligation to Take Care of Our Own
The Efficiency Argument Epistemological Considerations
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 39
Special Obligation to Take Care of Our Own
Advocates of particularity maintain that we have a special obligation to take care of our own, I.e., our family and loved ones, our town, our nation.
This take precedence over any obligations to help those who are distant from us.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 40
The Efficiency Argument
Some advocates of particularity maintain that, whatever our moral obligations may be, it is simply more efficient for us to take care of our own.
This gives us a “moral division of labor” in which each group is entrusted with caring for the welfare of that group as a whole.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 41
Epistemological Considerations
Advocates of particularity also maintain that local people are best equipped to know what will be best for local people.
Correlatively, we are in the best position to know what is best for those close to us.
04/18/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 42
The Liberal State Argument
Some advocates of liberalism maintain that the liberal state can only function well--that is, provide its citizens with what they need--if it rests on a solid economic foundation.
Consequently, the state is justified in restricting immigration, etc. to protect the minimal level of economic well-being of the state.