ipl-logo

When Stealing Is Wrong Essay

449 Words2 Pages

All over the world there are people starving and dying because poverty is keeping their basic needs just out of reach. Conversely, the world is filled with people who have the money and the means to help end poverty; however, too many of these people are not philanthropists. For those of us who would like to help poverty but are not as able as the wealthy, it can be frustrating to witness this type of greed. When rich people ignore their own moral obligations to charity, it may fall upon people with a “Robin Hood” mentality to redistribute a portion of their wealth. If stealing is the only practical way to help starving, homeless children, can it really be considered immoral? To better explain this issue, I have designed my own pond-type thought experiment.
Imagine that you are standing near a pond when you suddenly see a young child drowning in the water. Unfortunately, you do not know how to swim. The only other person present is a lifeguard. He is holding a life preserver and has noticed the drowning boy. He is not reacting to the drowning child …show more content…

I believe that the same thing is true for philanthropy. Stealing money from a wealthy, selfish person to save the life of an impoverished person is morally permissible. Imagine now that a woman is watching her child die from a curable illness. The only thing that is preventing her child from getting the necessary medication is the parent’s financial situation. In this case, it would be morally permissible for the mother to steal either the medication itself or the money to pay for it. Knowing that most people would steal to save their child, it is difficult to argue that it is wrong to steal in order to save another person’s child from death. It is for this reason that it is sometimes moral to steal money in order to give it to

Show More
Related

  • Responses To The Poor Between 1450 And 1700

    1468 Words  | 6 Pages

    Unfortunately, they did this for personal gain. One such person who wanted to get something out of helping the poor was Vincent de Paul. De Paul was a Catholic priest and founder of a religious order that ministered to the poor. In a 1658 speech to the members of his order in France he stated that he heard that one of the most important quality of bishops who became saints was their charity work. He thought that people would want to help the poor not because it was the right thing to do, but because it might have facilitated their personal ambitions of achieving sainthood.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of The Singer Solution To World Poverty

    592 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” by Peter Singer raises a thought provoking question to his audience—to give or not to give? Singer believes that acquiring luxuries is equivalent to letting poverty-stricken children starve to death. Extreme hypothetical scenarios of people who choose money and luxuries over a child’s life are prevalent throughout Singer’s argument and to further prove his point, he creates parallels between those people and people who don’t donate and claims that there is no moral distinction between the two. Singer’s straight-forward, but rather demanding proposition states that the money used to indulge in luxuries should go towards people in need instead. In an ideal world, Singer’s “solution” would be simple and noble.

    Read More

  • North America Monologue

    2121 Words  | 9 Pages

    The sound of the river calms me, my nose is now submerged beneath the water. The numbness that earlier enveloped my arm has started to dissipate. All I feel is a sting in my arm and I take a light breath in an attempt to start drowning myself. It is not what I had hoped. I immediately panic, it seems as though death does not suit me.

    Read More

  • Tyranny Essay

    509 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tyranny is the control of power by one individual, a few individuals, or a larger group of people. The United States, having still fresh memories of a bloody civil war that helped them gain freedom from English rule, felt the necessity to create a Constitution that will have no room for tyranny to form. That is how in May of 1787, fifty five delegates from different states attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to review the Articles of the Confederation. The result was a Constitution that ensured a fair distribution of power. The Constitution guards the United States from tyranny by splitting the powers between governments, branches, the use of checks and balances, and the creation of a two house congress.

    Read More

  • Article Analysis: The Singer Solution By Peter Singer

    725 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his article, The Singer Solution, Peter Singer argues that citizens of affluent nations are failing to do their moral duty, which is to donate far more to charity than they actually do. The article starts by referring to the Brazilian film Central Station where a miserable retired schoolteacher named Dora is faced with a choice. She could pocket an impressive $1000, but she must first convince a homeless 9 year old to follow her to a certain location where she is told he would be adopted. After spending the $1000 on a new TV, Dora learns that the boy would actually be killed and his organs sold. Dora decides to get the boy back, but what if Dora decided to look the other way after learning of the boy’s fate?

    Read More

  • The Poor Dbq

    1523 Words  | 7 Pages

    Juan Luis Vives, a Spanish humanist, demonstrates a perfect example of an individual who has faith in humanity and believes that we as a whole can do better. Juan believes that no one knows what the ideas of a the poor are or under what circumstances they are living, but people don’t help because,”others withdraw because their good intention is embarrassed by the great number” (Doc 1). Since Luis was a Humanist and he wrote this in a book, he must have meant it and wanted to spread the word to others that it is not a sin to help the poor. Another person who witnessed the poor would have to be Rembrandt van Rijn, in his painting Beggars Receiving Alms at the Door (Doc 6).

    Read More

  • Singer Solution To World Poverty Argument

    1292 Words  | 6 Pages

    Money: the root of most social problems and one of the few matters that almost everyone has an opinion on. Peter Singer’s “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” a newspaper article, is no exception. Singer argues that one should donate all unnecessary money to the less fortunate because of the morality of the situation. However, though the goal is noble, his commentary is very ineffective due to its condescending tone, lack of hard facts, and overall extremism. The piece is written by Peter Singer, an Australian professor of bioethics at Princeton University.

    Read More

  • Gospel Of Wealth Essay

    1509 Words  | 7 Pages

    The issue surrounding the wealthy class and their abundance of money is one that has been prominent for a long time. For many, the seemingly endless fortune these elite class people sit on has been deemed to be unfair and unnecessary, especially when there are people around the world who are not making enough money to obtain basic necessities. Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics, believes that the solution to this monetary problem is for the wealthy to simply donate money they don’t use on basic necessities back to the people in need. Although giving back to the less fortunate could potentially help in fixing many problems, prosperous people should not be obligated to donate money they “don’t need” to various organizations because since

    Read More

  • Barbara Lazear Ascher's 'On Compassion'

    820 Words  | 4 Pages

    In one circumstance, we may feel the need to give to those who are poor to keep them from getting in our personal space; and in other circumstances we feel that we give to others out of the kindness of our heart. I completely agree with Ascher and her views on compassion, because I have been in similar situation where I have questioned why people give money, and whether they give with a whole heart or out of necessity. Furthermore, this essay can teach us plenty of lessons that can be utilized throughout our lives so we can teach others and make them aware of the need to be more

    Read More

  • Essay On Singer's Strong Principle Of Sacrifice

    727 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this paper, I argue that Singer’s strong principle of sacrifice is flawed due to its over -demandingness. Singer denotes that as affluent individuals, we have a moral obligation to sacrifice up to the point of comparable moral significance to help those in absolute poverty. This essay will argue against Singer’s strong principle as it is psychologically too strong of an argument to be morally obliging. Singer’s argument exhorts us to give based on the controversial principle of comparable moral significance, to donate any income beyond that which is marginally necessary. Singer justifies this based on the knowledge that the suffering of a poor person should be no less significant to that of an affluent one (Singer, 1972).

    Read More

  • Self Sacrifice In The Book Night By Elie Wiesel

    814 Words  | 4 Pages

    People are often think of themselves and base their actions on what would harbor the best outcomes for them. It is rare in which people would go out of their way to help other even when it won’t harm them to do so. Therefore, it goes to show, based on that pattern, that the

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Moral Corruption Analysis

    1909 Words  | 8 Pages

    The wealthier one gets, it seems, the more one rationalizes their decisions and actions. The more one stains their morality little by little until they no longer need to choose what’s right and wrong but what benefits them. Whether it’s right or wrong is then irrelevant. From people to companies, wealth is the source of

    Read More

  • The Book Thief Narrative Essay

    880 Words  | 4 Pages

    Markus Zusak has assembled ‘The Book Thief’ using a variety of narrative conventions. These include a unique narrative viewpoint, plot structure and use of imagery, all of which provide meaning to the reader. (33 words) A narrative’s point of view refers to who is telling the story. In this case Zusak’s narrator identifies himself as Death.

    Read More

  • Peter Singer Rich And Poor Summary

    744 Words  | 3 Pages

    Peter Singer argues, in “Rich and Poor” that it is out obligation morally to help people that are in extreme poverty. This is what I believe the three main topics to be. The first is that we owe it to the people in need to prevent something bad if we do not have to sacrifice anything of significance. The second thing he really talks about is absolute poverty, and absolute effluence. The second topic is very simply put, absolute poverty is bad.

    Read More

  • Is Utilitarianism Relevant In Today's Society

    494 Words  | 2 Pages

    Utilitarianism is a moral philosophy that is credited to being created by Jeremey Bentham. Bentham believed that all humans make choices based on two feelings, pain and pleasure. Because of this, Bentham believed that motives are not good or bad in nature but instead on what feeling a human might feel more.

    Read More

More about When Stealing Is Wrong Essay

Open Document