Philosopher Peter Singer

The fundamental defect of Singer's argument is that, given our experience of human nature, he sets the moral bar at an impossibly high level. Very few of us readily would or could live up to the standard he asks of us. If society attempted to set its moral standards at Singer's level, we can predict one of three consequences. If his standard were to be supported by sanctions, these sanctions would have to be so strict and pervasive as to produce either an intensely warlike society or one founded on social (and probably political) totalitarianism. If his standard were not supported by social sanctions, most people would have to regard themselves as hopelessly amoral, and would thus be left to live in a moral vacuum, with no attainable standards to set for

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esses to death. Since Singer regards failure to give for the alleviation of starvation to be immoral, it could presumably be subject to sanctions, formal (e.g., punishment) or informal (e.g., social ostracism). Now, we have examples at hand of religious groups that require alms-giving or tithing. Islam sets a modest standard of zikat at two and a half percent; some Protestant sects require a tithe of ten percent. Neither approaches the standard of giving required by Singer's strong rule, and may be considered examples of his weak rule. There is little evidence that the Islamic standard has socially oppressive effects, but the Protestant groups that require a ten-percent tithe also tend to be groups that enforce adherence by such harsh measures as social shunning. We cannot say that tithing is itself directly related to this harshness, but it is reasonable to suggest that the more demanding a moral standard, in this or any other respect, the harsher the social measures by which it must be enforced, if it is to be effectively enforced at all. A community that sought to enforce Singer's strong rule by sanctions would thus very probably be a harshly oppressive one. If we are considering a whole society, rather than a min
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Approximate Word count = 2409
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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