''The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty'' is a 2009 book by Australian philosopher
Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a Secularit ...
, 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
Charity assessment is the process of analysis of the ''goodness'' of a non-profit organization in financial terms. Historically, charity evaluators have focused on the question of how much of contributed funds are used for the purpose(s) claimed b ...
). Singer concludes the book by proposing a minimum ethical standard of giving.
In December 2019, Singer announced the release of a revised tenth anniversary edition, available as a free
eBook or
audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
from the website of The Life You Can Save, an organization founded to advance the book's ideas.
[The audiobook is narrated by celebrities including ]Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...
, Kristen Bell
Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...
, Nicholas D'Agosto
Nicholas D'Agosto (born April 17, 1980) is an American actor, best known for featuring in ''Final Destination 5'', '' Heroes'' and ''The Office''. He starred in the Showtime series ''Masters of Sex'' and the Fox series '' Gotham''.
Early li ...
, Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
, Paul Simon, and Natalia Vodianova
Natalia Mikhailovna Vodianova ( rus, Наталья Михайловна Водянова, , nɐˈtalʲjə mʲɪˈxajləvnə vədʲɪˈnovə; born 28 February 1982), nicknamed Supernova, is a Russian model, actress and United Nations Goodwill ...
. See:
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
Preventable causes of death are causes of death related to risk factors which could have been avoided. The World Health Organization has traditionally classified death according to the primary type of disease or injury. However, causes of dea ...
).
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)
![Octopus-yacht](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Octopus-yacht.jpg)
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
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environmen ...
,
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
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
'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
Paul Edward Farmer (October 26, 1959 – February 21, 2022) was an American medical anthropologist and physician. Farmer held an MD and PhD from Harvard University, where he was a University Professor and the chair of the Department of Glob ...
(a physician that the author describes as making many sacrifices) with billionaire
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which ...
(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
GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percentag ...
, 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
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
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 rate
The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...
s 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 author asks the reader to calculate at least 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
Guilt may refer to:
*Guilt (emotion), an emotion that occurs when a person feels that they have violated a moral standard
*Culpability, a legal term
*Guilt (law), a legal term
Music
* ''Guilt'' (album), a 2009 album by Mims
* "Guilt" (The Long Bl ...
due to
cognitive dissonance
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environmen ...
).
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
In a review for
Barnes & Noble, George Scialabba writes, "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
hebare 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."
Economist
Paul Collier
Sir Paul Collier, (born 23 April 1949) is a British development economist who serves as the Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government and the director of the International Growth Centre. He currently is a ...
, writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', gave ''The Life You Can Save'' a mixed review, saying that "Singer is surely right" with regards to his arguments, but criticizing the book's focus on private charity and individual giving, rather than government policy.
Christian Barry and Gerhard Øverland (both from the
Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics) describe in their book review in the ''
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry'' the widespread acceptance for the notion that "the lives of all people everywhere are of equal fundamental worth when viewed impartially".
They then wonder 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
Thomas Nagel (; born July 4, 1937) is an American philosopher. He is the University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University, where he taught from 1980 to 2016. His main areas of philosophical interest are legal philosophy, ...
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" (
The Giving Pledge
The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage extremely wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. , the pledge has 236 signatories from 28 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, a ...
)—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 one's "reference set"—one's peers—are also helping others.
The book inspired
Cari Tuna and her fiancé
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Aaron Moskovitz (; born May 22, 1984) is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook, Inc. (now known as Meta) with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. In 2008, he left Facebook to co-found ...
, one of the co-founders of
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
, 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
GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percentag ...
.
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.
In addition, the US non-profit One for the World was established in 2014 to offer a simple way to take Singer's suggested 1% pledge. As of mid-2019, they have donated nearly $400k to effective causes and are active in schools in the US, Canada and Australia.
They also have over $1m of annualised pledges already committed.
[
Singer's thought-experiment about the drowning child featured in the book formed the basis of choral music that has been performed by ]Södra Latin
Södra Latin, officially Södra Latins gymnasium, ("Southern Latin" in Swedish) is an upper secondary school ("'' gymnasieskola''"), situated in Södermalm, Stockholm. The current school building was inaugurated in 1891.
History
Södra Latin has ...
Chamber Choir (conducted by Jan Risberg) and Choate Chamber Chorus.
See also
* Bai Fangli a pedicab
The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport. It is a type of hatchback tricycle designed to carry passengers on a for-hire basis. It is also known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, velotaxi, pedicab, bikecab, ...
driver who donated all of his meager income to education of poor students
References
External links
The Life You Can Save
the organization founded after the release of the book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Life You Can Save
2009 non-fiction books
Books about effective altruism
Books by Peter Singer
English-language books
Random House books