IS CHARITY A SOLUTION TO POVERTY? A CRITIQUE OF PETER SINGER’S PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

Peter Albert David Singer (b.1946) is an illustrious Australian Philosopher whose main area of interest is Ethics. He is very much concerned about rampant and prevalent poverty in the world. He has not revolted against unfair distribution of wealth like Karl Marx (1805-1883). He is not a Communist, nor does he wish to bring a proletariat revolution in the world. He has not criticized Capitalism too. He has suggested a novel way of combating poverty, that is, charity. It seems very strange prima facie since charity has never been accepted as poverty alleviation technique by the economists. It is no solution to poverty as the capital punishment is no solution to heinous crimes. However, Singer has seen the matter from another angle and established his case with many case studies and examples that charity and donation are plausible solutions to the problem of poverty and may reduce it to a great extent. In this paper the research question is the same: Is charity a solution to poverty? The objectives of the study are to understand the various meanings of poverty and to critically analyze the proposed solution of Peter Singer. The methodology is qualitative and analytic. The research theories employed are i- Case Studies and ii- Role Theory. The authors, however, have not agreed with him, and his method has been found oversimplified and non-feasible. Every concept presented has been supported by sound arguments. It has been concluded that the complex issue of poverty may not be resolved with charity alone.