Peter Singer's Drowning Child-What obligation do we have towards people in need who are far away?

[FireDragon76]

No of course not, we help others in the immediate present when possible, but we understand the limitations of that immediate help and do not forget our responsibility towards helping others on far deeper levels, in light of the limitations of our own time and strength.

In other words, we can exhaust ourselves spending our limited time & strength to repeatedly "help" others in the immediate present, but that steals from our own time & strength to develop what would help others more, and more significantly and powerfully, in the longer term.

Of course but many people simply waste their energy helping neither themselves nor others, but serving outdated religious and cultural ideals that ultimately benefit no one in particular.

 

[ananda]

Of course but many people simply waste their energy helping neither themselves nor others, but serving outdated religious and cultural ideals that ultimately benefit no one in particular.

I agree, it reminds me of the Sikkha Sutta and Jivaka Sutta.

 

[keith99]

I see no obligation to save that child. I might choose to, but it is my choice. From where Peter Singer went it becomes clear Robert Heinlein was spot on in the following quote about duty.

“Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.
But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please—this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time—and squawk for more!
So learn to say No—and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.
(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)”

BTW I probably would choose to save the child. I have made a similar decision to save an older lady who got in trouble in the surf at the beach.

Ironically now that I think of it that rescue was far safer than rescuing someone from a shallow pond with a muddy bottom. Nice clean open water and the surf not running all that high. Not a muddy bottomed pond where even teh strongest man could get trapped.

I've also made the decision to run toward the screams in the woods having little idea about what I might find, armed only with a swiss army knife and with no significant backup possible. But that decision was made when I was doing youth work and it was likely that the screams were from one of the kids in our group. In that I had an obligation that I had taken on when I signed up to be a leader.

Also there is one huge difference between the initial case and the situations where someone is at risk of death far away. Once teh child is dragged out of the pond the reasonable expectation is that they are then safe. The task is done. Not so for the typical overseas mission. There is never a point where teh job is done and one can go back to their own life.

 

[public hermit]

I see no obligation to save that child.

Part of what I find interesting about Singer's example is that it's not just about saving the child, but it's about saving the child with little or no cost to myself. Much like the example you gave of the older lady on the beach. If the risk/loss/effort on me is minimal to non-existent, then what reason do I have for not doing it, except I'm a (fill in the blank with pejorative term). Admittedly, when he extends it to those who are far away things get complicated. He wants to downplay the complications, but they do exist.