Peter Singer - ordinary people are evil
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it as the best short exposition of Singer's argument for a duty to give.
What it is
Philosopher Jeffrey Kaplan summarizes Peter Singer's 1972 essay 'Famine, Affluence, and Morality', arguing that failing to give to save lives is morally comparable to letting a child drown. It is a short lecture on the argument's structure.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2023 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec nextaccountic · 2026-07 · on “Grok Build Is OSS”
> If I gave $500 to kids cancer research every year for 5 years, and then I don't give this year, do I have blood on my hands every time a kid dies of cancer from now on? And if you didn't ever donate, you don't? > How does this work? Okay, since the topic at hand is steelmanning, that is, replying to the strongest possible argument, let's practice that. I invite you to watch this video, which is a short lecture that indeed exposes the strongest argument for this exact proposition. [this video] (Peter Singer - ordinary people are evil) I think the video is the best short exposition but you could try reading the paper the video is about [LINK] Or reading about the paper [LINK]
Recommends guerrilla · 2025-03 · on “Stoicism's appeal to the rich and powerful (2019)”
> I don't see why you should feel guilt. You should feel guilty because you can do something about other people's suffering, instead of being a greedy hoarder who has far more than he could possibly use in multiple lifetimes while other people starve and live miserable lives due to the system you benefit from. I think Peter Singer makes the argument very well [1] but many others in the history of philosophy have done just as good a job. Even Rawls is an option. 1. [this video]
Cites rektide · 2023-05 · on “Animals Are Dying in Droves. What Are They Telling Us?”
Peter Singer's Famine Affluence & Morality (1972) argued similarly, that we allow human suffering & don't do anything, even though we could. And he said that makes us provably evil. Recent submission, a video on Singer's paper: [LINK] [this video]
Cites aamargulies · 2024-12 · on “Hit men aren't what you think”
You’re being facetious, but Peter Singer made this exact point about “ordinary people being evil” in a famous philosophy essay in 1972. [this video]