Society & Culture / Philosophical Theory / Ethics & Moral Philosophy

Famine, Affluence, and Morality

Famine, Affluence, and Morality

Peter Singer

Peter Singer's groundbreaking 1972 essay 'Famine, Affluence, and Morality' forces us to confront a deeply uncomfortable question: do we have a moral obligation to prevent suffering on the other side of the world, even at significant personal cost? This video lecture walks through Singer’s radical argument—if it is in our power to prevent something bad without sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance, we must do it. You’ll see how he challenges our everyday assumptions about charity, distance, and the true meaning of ethical living. By the end, you may never think about your next latte the same way again.