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CHAPTER 21 Global Economic Justice
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Background and Facts about Global Economic Justice
A. What Is Justice?
B. Economic Inequality
C. Positive and Negative Rights
D. Duty of Beneficence
II. Moral Theories and Global Economic Justice
A. Distributive Justice
B. Libertarian Theories
C. Egalitarian Theories
III. Moral Arguments about Global Economic Justice
A. Singer’s Argument for Aiding the Needy
1. Personal Rights
2. Duties to Friends and Family
B. Hardin’s Argument against Aiding the Needy
1. The moral issue of whether we have a duty to help the poor and hungry of the world is compelling mainly because the
a. news media constantly remind us of the plight of poor people.
b. world’s poor are now slightly better off than they used to be, which is a reminder of their plight.
c. wretchedness of the world’s poor is an exaggeration that the rich are often confronted with.
d. wretchedness of the world’s poor is profound and the economic gap between rich and poor is wide.
2. Robert Nozick and John Hospers believe that people have a right NOT to be interfered with
and to do whatever they want with their own property as long as they do not violate the liberty
rights of others. This line is clearly
a. utilitarian. c. libertarian.
b. liberal. d. egalitarian.
3. Suppose you strongly believe you have no duty to help the poor and hungry of the world and that
you are not obligated to share your resources with those less fortunate. Your view would be
consistent with
a. authoritarianism. c. libertarianism.
b. utilitarianism. d. egalitarianism.
4. According to Peter Singer’s theory, we (the affluent) ought to give to the needy up to the point where we are just better off than those
we are trying to help. Singer refers to this as ________.
a. egalitarian justice. c. the level of sufficient sacrifice.
b. the level of marginal utility. d. distributive justice.
5. The key premise in Peter Singer’s argument for aiding the world’s needy is
a. “[I]f it is in our power to equally distribute goods throughout the world to all persons,
we ought, morally, to do it.”
b. “We—the well-to-do—have no right at all to the goods we possess; we acquired
them mostly through accidents of birth and geography.”
c. “Giving food and shelter to the poor would only make their plight worse.”
d. “[I]f it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral
importance, we ought, morally, to do it.”
6. Critics of Peter Singer’s view admit that we do have an obligation to aid distant people but,
they say, we also have a duty to help
a. those with whom we have a special relationship.
b. everyone near us.
c. our enemies.
d. foreign governments.
7. Garrett Hardin argues that the rich
a. should aid the poor and hungry but not to the level of marginal utility.
b. should not aid the poor and hungry because doing so will only invite catastrophe for the rich and poor alike.
c. should not aid the poor and hungry because doing so will result in injustice to the rich.
d. should aid the poor and hungry because Peter Singer’s argument is persuasive.
8. Consider the story of Malawi’s transformation from a country that needed emergency food
aid to one that feeds its hungry neighbors. The soil in Malawi was overfarmed and depleted,
which made it impossible for the country to feed itself. The situation improved only when
Malawi began to ignore the advice of the World Bank and rich countries, which, in trying to
provide aid, had advised Malawi to get rid of fertilizer subsidies and to rely on the workings of
free markets. After the disastrous harvest of 2005, Malawi reversed the trend and subsidized
farmers’ use of fertilizer, just as many Western countries do for their own farmers. The
Malawi government’s decision resulted in a complete turnaround of its people’s situation. This
example would lend most support to the view of ________.
a. Garrett Hardin c. John Arthur
b. Peter Singer d. Louis Pojman
9. Garrett Hardin uses the lifeboat metaphor to suggest that
a. affluent countries, like lifeboats, are inherently unstable.
b. the moral duty of affluent countries is to give aid to the starving, overpopulated ones.
c. the affluent countries have a moral duty not to give aid to the starving, overpopulated ones.
d. giving aid to the poor and hungry will cause a worldwide revolt against the rich and influential.
10. In 2009, Kenya faced an immediate danger of mass starvation due to a drought that
threatened a third of the East African country’s population, or about 10 million people.
In January of that year, the Kenyan government declared the food shortage a national disaster,
and the United Nations appealed for international help. Suppose wealthy countries responded
to the food crisis in Kenya according to Garrett Hardin’s recommendations. Rich countries
would have
a. sent limited food aid. c. sent more food aid than is required.
b. sent fertilizer but no food. d. refused to send any food aid at all.
TRUE/FALSE
1. The richest 1 percent of people in the world own about 50 percent of the world’s wealth.
2. A person’s claim or entitlement to something, a moral demand that obligates others to act
accordingly, is referred to as a duty.
3. Suppose your friend is a strong believer in individual liberties and negative rights, and she often
complains about the government’s establishment of positive rights. It sounds like she may be a
utilitarian.
4. Suppose you adopt a libertarian theory of justice. The government decides to raise taxes to pay for universal health care. You will
likely oppose these new taxes.
5. Many egalitarians maintain that we are not obligated to share our resources with those less fortunate.
6. Peter Singer asserts that our moral duty applies to needy people regardless of their distance from us.
7. The failure of rich nations to aid the world’s poorest countries would be considered morally
wrong by Peter Singer.
8. Suppose you are asked by the local hospital to donate one of your kidneys to save the life of a
stranger. Most of us would insist that you are not obligated to give away your kidney, even for
a good cause, because it’s your body, you have a right to it, and you are never obligated to
make such a sacrifice. This analogy has been used to cast doubt on one of the premises of
Peter Singer’s argument that the wealthy have a moral duty to help the needy.
SHORT ANSWER
1. The morality of persons getting what is fair or what is their due is known as ________.
2. A person’s right that obligates others NOT to interfere with that person’s obtaining something is known as a ________.
3. A ________ right obligates others to help persons obtain something to which they have
such a right.
4. A moral obligation to benefit others is known as a duty of ________.
5. While obligatory actions are what duty requires, ________ actions are above and beyond the
demands of duty.
6. Justice concerning the fair distribution of society’s goods is called ________ justice.
7. ________ theories of justice hold that all persons have equal value and deserve equal respect
and therefore have equal rights to the world’s resources.
