The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World
Poverty is a 2009 book by Australian philosopher
Peter Singer, in which the author argues that
citizens of affluent nations are behaving
immorally if they do not act to end the poverty
they know to exist in developing nations.
The book is focused on giving to charity,
and discusses philosophical considerations,
describes practical and psychological obstacles
to giving, and lists available resources for
prospective donors (e.g. charity evaluators).
Singer concludes the book by proposing a minimum
ethical standard of giving.
== Synopsis ==
=== 
The philosophical argument ===
Singer presents the following argument in
the book:
First Premise: Suffering and death from lack
of food, shelter and medical care are bad.
Second Premise: If it is in your power to
prevent something bad from happening, without
sacrificing anything nearly as important,
it is wrong not to do so.
Third Premise: By donating to aid agencies,
you can prevent suffering and death from lack
of food, shelter and medical care, without
sacrificing anything nearly as important.
Conclusion: Therefore, if you do not donate
to aid agencies, you are doing something wrong.Singer
argues that it is obvious that an adult ought
to save a child from drowning unless that
individual is risking something as valuable
as the child's life.
Singer points out that as many as 27,000 children
die every day from poverty that could be easily
and cheaply helped by existing charities (see
also List of preventable causes of death).Singer
says that many of his readers enjoy at least
one luxury that is less valuable than a child's
life.
He says his readers ought to sacrifice such
a luxury (e.g. bottled waters) and send proceeds
to charity, if they can find a reliable charity.Singer
spends time clarifying that people have a
right to spend money any way they want, but
says that fact does not change the way one
ought to spend it.
The author also notes that some people may
be indifferent to the impact they could have,
but says this consideration also fails to
change how people ought to act.
Singer's central thesis is that, a given individual
may be able to point to others doing nothing,
but that individual still ought to do as much
as they can.
The title of the book comes from the fact
that Singer addresses readers directly, asking
them what they will do about "the life you
can save".
=== The psychology of giving (or not giving)
===
Singer says that citizens of richer nations
do not donate as much as they could.
The author says the reasons are not philosophical,
but due to psychological considerations including
cognitive dissonance, diffusion of responsibility
and the evolutionary history of human ancestors.
For instance, according to Singer, cognitive
dissonance theory predicts that humans are
rationalizing creatures, making it difficult
to change their minds on topics (e.g. charity)
that cause any anxiety—unless they are highly
motivated to bear it during long contemplation.Singer
contends that humans are highly capable of
establishing social circles where giving is
the norm, and he offers Bill Gates's "Giving
Pledge" as an example.
Singer expresses the hope that an entire culture
of giving can develop, allowing individuals
to fully admit to themselves how selfish certain
individuals have become with their money.
The author compares individuals like Paul
Farmer (a physician that the author describes
as making many sacrifices) with billionaire
Paul Allen (who, Singer says, spent $200 million
to build the Octopus—a 413-foot personal
yacht that requires a crew of sixty).
=== The actual state of foreign aid today
===
Singer says there is a common misconception
that all charities are inefficient or corrupt.
He endorses GiveWell, a charity evaluator,
as a way to identify the most reliable, effective
charities.
Singer then describes some common causes of
death and suffering in poor countries along
with the costs of their solutions.
The author uses the example of $5 nets that
can protect children from catching malaria
from mosquitos during the night.
Singer emphasizes that there are many costs
involved with putting these solutions into
practice.
He refers to charity estimates that roughly
$1000 can save a human life (As of 2013, Givewell's
top charity, Against Malaria Foundation, is
estimated to save one life roughly every $2300
donated).
=== Singer's new standard of giving ===
Singer says the earth has limited resources,
but says this is a weak argument against donating.
According to Singer, education and development
actually lead to lower birth rates and decrease
the risks of overpopulation.
Singer adds that affluent nations consume
much more food than they need by feeding it
to animals and then eating the animals.
Singer settles on a standard of giving: at
least 1% of net income (although he goes into
more detail about how this percentage might
increase as one's income increases).
He justifies his decision by saying that,
although we ought to give much more, it is
not practical to demand much more, and trying
to do so may turn people off from giving anything
at all.
Singer emphasizes the importance of being
practical when it comes to getting as much
money as possible to the poor, even if that
means holding people to lower standards as
a means of changing their habits.
=== Singer's Seven Steps ===
According to the author, there are several
steps that one can take to become a part of
the solution to end world poverty.
The book recommends visiting the website www.TheLifeYouCanSave.com,
taking a "giving pledge" (Singer argues it
is a commitment device), and using the "Charity
Impact Calculator" to help decide which organization(s)
to donate to.The author asks the reader to
calculate 1% of their income and then donate
it.
Singer further suggests taking steps to foster
a culture of giving (using social networks
while staying positive and avoiding the emotion
of guilt due to cognitive dissonance).
Singer goes on to offer other ways to promote
a culture of giving.Singer maintains that
the last, important step of donating is to
feel good about making a difference.
He argues that too much guilt may result in
inaction, dooming the poor.
== Reception ==
Christian Barry and Gerhard Overland (both
from the Centre for Applied Philosophy and
Public Ethics) described the widespread acceptance
for the notion that "the lives of all people
everywhere are of equal fundamental worth
when viewed impartially".
They then wonder, during the book review in
the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, why "the
affluent do so little, and demand so little
of their governments, while remaining confident
that they are morally decent people who generally
fulfil their duties to others?"
The reviewers agree with Singer, and say they
see a conflict between the behaviours of the
affluent and the claims of the affluent to
being morally decent people.
The reviewers also discuss other practical
ways to fight poverty.Philosopher Thomas Nagel
says that nobody, not even Singer, will act
according to Singer's ideal of giving up all
possessions that are less valuable than a
human life.
Nagel says that our unwillingness to sacrifice
may not be entirely an issue of motivation:
Nagel says that we can make moral objections,
although he calls Singer's principle "plausible".In
June 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren
Buffett launched the "Billionaires' Pledge"—calling
on all billionaires to give at least half
their wealth to philanthropic causes—in
an interview with Charlie Rose.
In the interview, Melinda Gates mentioned
Singer's The Life You Can Save, referring
to it as suggesting the importance of knowing
that other members of your "reference set"—your
peers—are also helping others.
The book inspired Cari Tuna and her fiancé
Dustin Moskovitz, one of the co-founders of
Facebook, to start their own philanthropic
foundation Good Ventures which is focused
on high impact philanthropy and is working
in close partnership with a charity evaluator
called GiveWell.In a review for Barnes & Noble,
George Scialabba writes that "Some of the
most affecting pages in The Life You Can Save
describe the low-tech, low-cost programs that
have restored sight to a million people blinded
by cataracts and have rescued many thousands
of women and children from lives blighted
by cleft palates or obstetric fistulas".
Scialabba concludes "For those willing to
do more than [the] bare minimum, Singer has
worked out a detailed chart specifying how
much everyone at every income level should
give...
Is this unrealistic?
Maybe.
But if we don't do it, our 26th-century descendants
will be heartily ashamed of us."
== Impact ==
After the release of the book, Peter Singer
founded the organization The Life You Can
Save.
The organization is devoted to providing information
about and promoting participation in activities
that reduce poverty and economic inequality.
The organization also encourages people to
publicly pledge a percentage of their income
to highly effective aid organizations and
gives recommendations for about a dozen of
such charities.
In 2014 the number of people who had pledged
publicly reached 17,000.Singer's thought-experiment
about the drowning child featured featured
in the book formed the basis of choral music
that has been performed by Södra Latin Chamber
Choir (conducted by Jan Risberg) and Choate
Chamber Chorus.
== See also ==
Bai Fangli, a pedicab driver who donated all
of his meager income to education of poor
students
