Kelly Overhoff 03/20/14PHI201WIPB Dr. AbbarnoMoral Obligation in Famine, Affluence and Morality by Peter Singer as opposed to World Hunger and Moral Obligation by John Arthur: the case against SingerPeter Singer, a philosopher and professor at Princeton University who wrote the essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," in which he argues that wealthy people have a moral obligation to help provide developing countries with resources that would raise their standards of living and reduce deaths from famine, exposure and preventable disease. John Arthur's essay argues that Singer is saying that all rich people have a moral obligation to give their money to the poor inasmuch as the rich person would be on the same level as the poor person, the poor have no positive rights to our aid, and rich people have a negative right to their property, which weighs on their obligation. Singer's utilitarian theory highlights his main arguments for his statement: "If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we should, morally, to do it” (375). He supports this by suggesting that we are morally obligated to prevent evil regardless of "nearness or distance", "how many other people are in the same position with respect to that evil as we are" and that we should prevent hunger by sacrificing only their luxuries, which are of lesser moral importance (378). This means that we should not limit our help to those we can see or know, because morally there is no difference between our obligation to them and our obligation to those abroad. Furthermore, we should limit our help to what we think......middle of document......d and well-being. All different ethical theories can look at the same problem and come to different conclusions. Even philosophers like Singer and Arthur understand and view ethical values ​​differently. Peter Singer, who uses utilitarian theory, believes that rich people should give to the extent that the rich person is now a person in need themselves. John Arthur believes that those who are in need or those who are suffering are only entitled to help from the rich person if that person agrees to help them, and that the property rights of the rich person diminish by the amount that Singer believes people should. People should help others. I believe that everyone deserves the right to receive help and that not helping these people would be morally wrong. However, I do not believe that the help we are morally obligated to provide should come at the expense of our own well-being..