What's Wrong with Singer's Solution to World Poverty? A General Ethics Perspective

「從普遍道德觀談辛爾解決世界貧情問題之道」

藍伯捷(Robert Lantin)

《真理大學人文學報》 9期 (2010/04) Pp. 103-117

https://doi.org/10.29962/TOJA.201004.0006

摘要

本文旨在討論彼得．辛爾（Peter Singer）解決世界貧窮的立場，（一）提出不合理要求，（二）將對道德個體的要求提高至不合理的高度－因此，（三）在倫理道德上令人無法接受。吾人以辛爾解決貧窮之道為始，並簡短引用辛爾的對策；接著導入《普遍道德論》，並詳述道德規範的「多重觀點」。藉由道德的「多重觀點」詳細地探討辛爾的理路－在道德規範的複雜性下，積極的道德行為不應以道德義務為由，強迫人們捐獻出多餘的財產給窮人－此為辛爾基本理論中對富足國家中道德個體之規定。

關鍵字

世界貧窮的立場 ； 彼得．辛爾 ； 普遍道德論 ； 多重觀點

並列摘要

The central contention of the paper is that Peter Singer's position on world poverty (i) makes unreasonable demands and (ii) raises unreasonable expectations on moral agents-and is thus, (iii) ethically unacceptable. I begin with a presentation of Singer's solution, along with a brief exposition of his formal arguments. I then introduce the theory of General Ethics and provide a detailed description of its 'multiple perspective account' of moral agency. With the 'multiple perspective account' in place, I then engage Singer's line of reasoning more closely, and argue that given the complexity of moral agency when it comes to motivation for moral action and behavior, it is simply not possible to hold flesh-and-blood individuals under the moral obligation to donate all their wealth surplus to others-in-general-which is essentially what Singer's theory imposes on moral agents living in affluent nations.

並列關鍵字

world poverty ； Peter Singer ； general ethics ； multiple perspective account ； Warwick Fox