Archived at the Flinders Academic Commons http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/
This is the authorʼs preprint of this article.
Peter Singer. The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty. Text Publishing, 2009.
Reviewed by Gillian Dooley for the Adelaide Review, February 2009, p. 29.
How much should a private citizen do to make poverty history? Peter Singer believes that current standards of charitable giving in affluent societies are not only inadequate but morally indefensible. His argument proceeds, cool and devastating, through a refutation of common objections, and suggestions for making sure your donations are well spent, to a concrete proposal, with a sliding scale, for what everyone should give.
There might be unexpected economic and environmental effects if, as he hopes, large numbers of Americans begin to live as cheaply as possible and give large amounts away. But the gauntlet is down, and lively discussion must follow. This is what philosophy is for.