The Life You Can Save

Citation

Singer, P. (2010). The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty. Random House.

Chapter Summary

Context and Argument

Peter Singer built the book on a short argument he first made in an essay on famine and affluence in 1972: if we can prevent something very bad from happening without giving up anything of comparable moral importance, we ought to do so. The book is written for a general audience rather than for specialists in ethics, and it is organised in four parts: the argument itself, the facts of human nature that keep us from acting, the facts about aid, and a proposed new standard for giving. Each part answers a question a reader is likely to ask after the previous one: is it really wrong not to help, why do we not help more, does aid work, and how much should I give.

Part One, The Argument

Chapter 1: Saving a Child

The book opens with the image of a child drowning in a shallow pond, which most readers agree they would rescue at the cost of muddy clothes. Singer then asks what, if anything, separates that case from the death of a child far away from a preventable disease, and the chapter makes the point that distance by itself does not seem to reduce the claim on us.

Chapter 2: Is It Wrong Not to Help?

This chapter turns the pond case into a general argument. Suffering and death from lack of food, shelter and medical care are bad; if one can prevent them without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, one ought to; giving to effective aid organisations is such a way of preventing them. Singer states what follows from this, including that the common view that giving is merely charitable and optional is hard to defend.

Chapter 3: Common Objections to Giving

The chapter takes up the replies people most often make, such as the view that moral beliefs about giving are simply relative, that those who have money are entitled to keep it, and that aid is wasted or does not work. Singer answers each in turn and gives his reasons for thinking that none removes the basic obligation, while accepting that the question of whether aid works needs the evidence taken up later.

Part Two, Human Nature

Chapter 4: Why Don't We Give More?

The question here is psychological. The chapter discusses why we respond more to a single identifiable victim than to statistics, why nearness and group membership matter, and why we feel less responsible when many others could also help. It argues that these tendencies explain our behaviour without justifying it.

Chapter 5: Creating a Culture of Giving

Singer asks how social norms, public commitments and recognition can make giving more common and more sustained. He discusses public pledges and the recognition of generosity as ways of making giving a habit and a norm among affluent people.

Part Three, The Facts about Aid

Chapter 6: How Much Does It Cost to Save a Life, and How Can You Tell Which Charities Do It Best?

This chapter moves from principle to practice. It discusses how to compare organisations by the results they achieve, why the differences between them can be large, and which questions donors should ask about evidence, transparency and cost.

Chapter 7: Improving Aid

The chapter takes seriously the objection that much international aid fails or does harm. Singer grants the failures, discusses debates among specialists, and argues for reforms and for choosing interventions that have a record of working.

Part Four, A New Standard for Giving

Chapter 8: Your Child and the Children of Others

Here the book addresses the claim that we have special duties to our own children and families. Singer considers how far they go and whether they justify spending on ourselves and our families what could save the lives of strangers.

Chapter 9: Asking Too Much?

This chapter looks at the objection that the argument demands too much. Singer distinguishes what morality would ideally ask from what can reasonably be asked of people in practice, and considers whether a demanding standard puts people off giving at all.

Chapter 10: A Realistic Approach

The last chapter proposes a practical scale of giving that rises with income, intended to be achievable and to spread widely, and encourages readers to begin with a modest commitment. A short closing section on what one person can do and an appendix presenting the giving scale follow, along with notes and an index.

Key Concepts

Part One: Chapters 1–3

• The drowning-child case: a thought experiment used to test whether distance matters to a duty to rescue.
• The principle of preventing bad things: if we can prevent something very bad without sacrificing anything of comparable importance, we ought to.
• Objections to giving: relativism, entitlement and the claim that aid does not work.

Part Two: Chapters 4–5

• Identifiable victim effect: the stronger response to a named individual than to statistics.
• Diffusion of responsibility: feeling less obliged when others could also help.
• Culture of giving: social norms and public commitments that make giving habitual.

Parts Three and Four: Chapters 6–10

• Cost-effectiveness: comparing charities by results per amount given.
• Partiality: special duties to one's own family and their limits.
• Demandingness: the worry that the argument asks too much of individuals.
• The giving scale: a graduated standard that rises with income.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A clear argument in plain language. The drowning-child case and the numbered steps in Chapter 2 let a reader see exactly which premise they would reject.
• Objections are faced directly. Several chapters are devoted to the replies readers are likely to make, and the book separates philosophical objections from psychological and empirical ones.
• Moves from principle to action. After the argument the book asks how to judge charities and how much to give, which makes it unusually practical for a work in ethics.
• Short and accessible. Roughly two hundred pages of main text, with notes and an index, suit a reader who has no philosophy background.

Limitations

• Argument by analogy. Much depends on whether the pond case and distant poverty are relevantly alike; readers who deny this will find the central step contestable.
• The empirical parts date. The chapters on aid rest on evidence and examples current in 2009, so figures and organisations need updating from current sources.
• Sustained demandingness. Even with the graduated scale, some readers will find the standard too high or its justification unconvincing, and the book does not resolve broader debates about aid and structural change.

Where It Fits in the Course

In the applied ethics list, this is the book to start with on global poverty and the duty to give. Singer's own Animal Liberation, his edited collection Applied Ethics and his Ethics in the Real World essays show the same method on other questions, and the last is a good short companion. Regan's Empty Cages, Cochrane's Animal Rights Without Liberation, Cora Diamond's Eating Meat and Eating People and Carol Adams's The Sexual Politics of Meat and Neither Man nor Beast deal with the ethics of animals and food from other standpoints. Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass offers an Indigenous and ecological view of obligation. Singer's book is the most direct treatment of what privileged individuals owe distant strangers.

How to Use This Book

The book is for undergraduates and general readers; no previous philosophy is required.

• Core: Chapters 1 to 3 give the argument. Chapters 4, 6 and 10 give the psychology, the practical evidence and the proposal.
• Optional: Chapters 5, 7, 8 and 9 deepen particular points and can be read selectively.
• Seminar use: state the principle in Chapter 2 in your own words, choose the premise you would challenge, and test it against the objections in Chapter 3.
• After reading: check the chapter 6 and 7 claims against current evaluations of charities before using them for decisions.