New Internationalist, April, 1997

The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle

By Peter Singer
To challenge my students to think aout the ethics o! what we owe to people in need, I ask them to
imagine that their route to the uni"ersity takes them past a shallow pond# $ne morning, I say to them,
you notice a child has !allen in and appears to e drowning# To wade in and pull the child out would e
easy ut it will mean that you get your clothes wet and muddy, and y the time you go home and
change you will ha"e missed your !irst class#
I then ask the students% do you ha"e any oligation to rescue the child& 'nanimously, the students say
they do# The importance o! sa"ing a child so !ar outweighs the cost o! getting one(s clothes muddy and
missing a class, that they re!use to consider it any kind o! e)cuse !or not sa"ing the child# *oes it make
a di!!erence, I ask, that there are other people walking past the pond who would e+ually e ale to
rescue the child ut are not doing so& No, the students reply, the !act that others are not doing what they
ought to do is no reason why I should not do what I ought to do#
$nce we are all clear aout our oligations to rescue the drowning child in !ront o! us, I ask% would it
make any di!!erence i! the child were !ar away, in another country perhaps, ut similarly in danger o!
death, and e+ually within your means to sa"e, at no great cost , and asolutely no danger , to yoursel!&
-irtually all agree that distance and nationality make no moral di!!erence to the situation# I then point
out that we are all in that situation o! the person passing the shallow pond% we can all sa"e li"es o!
people, oth children and adults, who would otherwise die, and we can do so at a "ery small cost to us%
the cost o! a new .*, a shirt or a night out at a restaurant or concert, can mean the di!!erence etween
li!e and death to more than one person somewhere in the world , and o"erseas aid agencies like $)!am
o"ercome the prolem o! acting at a distance#
At this point the students raise "arious practical di!!iculties# .an we e sure that our donation will
really get to the people who need it& *oesn(t most aid get swallowed up in administrati"e costs, or
waste, or downright corruption& Isn(t the real prolem the growing world population, and is there any
point in sa"ing li"es until the prolem has een sol"ed& These +uestions can all e answered% ut I also
point out that e"en i! a sustantial proportion o! our donations were wasted, the cost to us o! making
the donation is so small, compared to the ene!its that it pro"ides when it, or some o! it, does get
through to those who need our help, that we would still e sa"ing li"es at a small cost to oursel"es ,
e"en i! aid organi/ations were much less e!!icient than they actually are#
I am always struck y how !ew students challenge the underlying ethics o! the idea that we ought to
sa"e the li"es o! strangers when we can do so at relati"ely little cost to oursel"es# At the end o! the
nineteenth century 01 2ecky wrote o! human concern as an e)panding circle which egins with the
indi"idual, then emraces the !amily and 3soon the circle### includes !irst a class, then a nation, then a
coalition o! nations, then all humanity, and !inally, its in!luence is !elt in the dealings o! man 4sic5 with
the animal world(#1 $n this asis the o"erwhelming ma6ority o! my students seem to e already in the
penultimate stage , at least , o! 2ecky(s e)panding circle# There is, o! course, !or many students and
!or "arious reasons a gap etween acknowledging what we ought to do, and doing it7 ut I shall come
ack to that issue shortly#
$ur century is the !irst in which it has een possile to speak o! gloal responsiility and a gloal
community# 8or most o! human history we could a!!ect the people in our "illage, or perhaps in a large
city, ut e"en a power!ul king could not con+uer !ar eyond the orders o! his kingdom# 0hen 1adrian
ruled the 9oman :mpire, his realm co"ered most o! the 3known( world, ut today when I oard a 6et in
2ondon lea"ing what used to e one o! the !ar;!lung outposts o! the 9oman :mpire, I pass o"er its
opposite oundary e!ore I am e"en hal!way to Singapore, let alone to my home in Australia# <oreo"er
no matter what the e)tent o! the empire, the time re+uired !or communications and transport meant that
there was simply no way in which people could make any di!!erence to the "ictims o! !loods, wars, or
massacres taking place on the other side o! the gloe# By the time anyone had heard o! the e"ents and
responded, the "ictims were dead or had sur"i"ed without assistance# 3.harity egins at home( made
sense, ecause it was only 3at home( , or at least in your own town , that you could e con!ident that
your charity would make any di!!erence#
Instant communications and 6et transport ha"e changed all that# A tele"ision audience o! two illion
people can now watch hungry children eg !or !ood in an area struck y !amine, or they can see
re!ugees streaming across the order in search o! a sa!e place away !rom those they !ear will kill them#
<ost o! that huge audience also ha"e the means to help people they are seeing on their screens# :ach
one o! us can pull out a credit card and phone in a donation to an aid organi/ation which can, in a !ew
days, !ly in people who can egin distriuting !ood and medical supplies# .ollecti"ely, it is also within
the capacity o! the 'nited Nations , with the support o! ma6or powers , to put troops on the ground to
protect those who are in danger o! ecoming "ictims o! genocide#
$ur capacity to a!!ect what is happening, anywhere in the world, is one way in which we are li"ing in
an era o! gloal responsiility# But there is also another way that o!!ers an e"en more dramatic contrast
with the past# The atmosphere and the oceans seemed, until recently, to e elements o! nature totally
una!!ected y the puny acti"ities o! human eings# Now we know that our use o! chloro!luorocarons
has damaged the o/one shield7 our emission o! caron dio)ide is changing the climate o! the entire
planet in unpredictale ways and raising the le"el o! the sea7 and !ishing !leets are scouring the oceans,
depleting !ish populations that once seemed limitless to a point !rom which they may ne"er reco"er# In
these ways the actions o! consumers in 2os Angeles can cause skin cancer among Australians, inundate
the lands o! peasants in Bangladesh, and !orce Thai "illagers who could once earn a li"ing y !ishing to
work in the !actories o! Bangkok#
In these circumstances the need !or a gloal ethic is inescapale# Is it ne"ertheless a "ain hope& 1ere
are some reasons why it may not e#
0e li"e in a time when many people e)perience their li"es as empty and lacking in !ul!ilment# The
decline o! religion and the collapse o! communism ha"e le!t ut the ideology o! the !ree market whose
only message is% consume, and work hard so you can earn money to consume more# =et e"en those who
do reasonaly well in this race !or material goods do not !ind that they are satis!ied with their way o!
li!e# 0e now ha"e good scienti!ic e"idence !or what philosophers ha"e said throughout the ages% once
we ha"e enough to satis!y our asic needs, gaining more wealth does not ring us more happiness#
.onsider the li!e o! I"an Boesky, the multimillionaire 0all Street dealer who in 19>? pleaded guilty to
insider trading# 0hy did Boesky get in"ol"ed in criminal acti"ities when he already had more money
than he could e"er spend& Si) years a!ter the insider;trading scandal roke, Boesky(s estranged wi!e
Seema spoke aout her husand(s moti"es in an inter"iew with Barara 0alters !or the American AB.
Network(s @AB@A program# 0alters asked whether Boesky was a man who cra"ed lu)ury# Seema
Boesky thought not, pointing out that he worked around the clock, se"en days a week, and ne"er took a
day o!! to en6oy his money# She then recalled that when in 19>@ 8ores maga/ine !irst listed Boesky
among the wealthiest people in the 'S, he was upset# She assumed he disliked the pulicity and made
some remark to that e!!ect# Boesky replied% 3That(s not what(s upsetting me# 0e(re no;one# 0e(re
nowhere# 0e(re at the ottom o! the list and I promise you I won(t shame you like that again# 0e will
not remain at the ottom o! that list#(
0e must !ree oursel"es !rom this asurd conception o! success# Not only does it !ail to ring happiness
e"en to those who, like Boesky, do e)traordinarily well in the competiti"e struggle7 it also sets a social
standard that is a recipe !or gloal in6ustice and en"ironmental disaster# 0e cannot continue to see our
goal as ac+uiring more and more wealth, or as consuming more and more goodies, and lea"ing ehind
us an e"en larger heap o! waste#
0e tend to see ethics as opposed to sel!;interest7 we assume that those who make !ortunes !rom insider
trading are success!ully !ollowing sel!;interest , as long as they don(t get caught , and ignoring ethics#
0e think that it is in our interest to take a more senior etter;paid position with another company, e"en
though it means that we are helping to manu!acture or promote a product that does no good at all, or is
en"ironmentally damaging# $n the other hand, those who pass up opportunities to rise in their career
ecause o! ethical 3scruples( aout the nature o! the work, or who gi"e away their wealth to good
causes, are thought to e sacri!icing their own interest in order to oey the dictates o! ethics#
<any will say that it is nai"e to elie"e that people could shi!t !rom a li!e ased on consumption, or on
getting on top o! the corporate ladder, to one that is more ethical in its !undamental direction# But such
a shi!t would answer a palpale need# Today the assertion that li!e is meaningless no longer comes !rom
e)istentialist philosophers who treat it as a shocking disco"ery% it comes !rom ored adolescents !or
whom it is a truism# Perhaps it is the central place o! sel!;interest, and the way in which we concei"e o!
our own interest, that is to lame here# The pursuit o! sel!;interest, as standardly concei"ed, is a li!e
without any meaning eyond our own pleasure or indi"idual satis!action# Such a li!e is o!ten a sel!;
de!eating enterprise# The ancients knew o! the 3parado) o! hedonism(, according to which the more
e)plicitly we pursue our desire !or pleasure, the more elusi"e we will !ind its satis!action# There is no
reason to elie"e that human nature has changed so dramatically as to render the ancient wisdom
inapplicale#
1ere ethics o!!er a solution# An ethical li!e is one in which we identi!y oursel"es with other, larger,
goals, therey gi"ing meaning to our li"es# The "iew that there is harmony etween ethics and
enlightened sel!;interest is an ancient one, now o!ten scorned# .ynicism is more !ashionale than
idealism# But such hopes are not groundless, and there are sustantial elements o! truth in the ancient
"iew that an ethically re!lecti"e li!e is also a good li!e !or the person leading it# Ne"er has it een so
urgent that the reasons !or accepting this "iew should e widely understood#
In a society in which the narrow pursuit o! material sel!;interest is the norm, the shi!t to an ethical
stance is more radical than many people reali/e# In comparison with the needs o! people going short o!
!ood in 9wanda, the desire to sample the wines o! Australia(s est "ineyards pales into insigni!icance#
An ethical approach to li!e does not !orid ha"ing !un or en6oying !ood and wine7 ut it changes our
sense o! priorities# The e!!ort and e)pense put into !ashion, the endless search !or more and more
re!ined gastronomic pleasures, the added e)pense that marks out the lu)ury;car market , all these
ecome disproportionate to people who can shi!t perspecti"e long enough to put themsel"es in the
position o! others a!!ected y their actions# I! the circle o! ethics really does e)pand, and a higher
ethical consciousness spreads, it will !undamentally change the society in which we li"e#
'tilitarian Philosophers %% Peter Singer %% CThe *rowning .hild and the :)panding .ircleC