Global Debate

greenlunchbox

Are acts of assistance to distant strangers a matter of justice or charity?


Have to approach this topic for a 2500 word essay and amn't sure where to start! Would appreciate hearing some thoughts and arguments!

Thank-you in advance :pac:

Rodin

greenlunchbox wrote: »

Are acts of assistance to distant strangers a matter of justice or charity?


Have to approach this topic for a 2500 word essay and amn't sure where to start! Would appreciate hearing some thoughts and arguments!

Thank-you in advance :pac:

This type of stuff is why I did sciences

Cannibal Ox

You could check out Luc Boltanski - Distant Suffering: Media, Morality and Politics, Lilie Chouliaraki - The Spectatorship of Suffering, Susan Sontag - Regarding the Pain of Others, Peter Singer - Famine, Affluence and Morality or Stanley Cohen - Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering.

I'd pick one of those and use them, Singer's is probably the easiest, shortest and most relevant piece. You could contrast it with Living on a Lifeboat by Garrett Hardin.

If you wanted to drag it back to practical examples and individual responses, you could look at adverts/campaigns by people like Oxfam, Amnesty, and MSF, and examine them in terms of moral choices/actions both in terms of what they ask and, probably more importantly how they represent those choices/how they represent the people in them and the people 'consuming' the adverts.

greenlunchbox

Cannibal Ox wrote: »

You could check out Luc Boltanski - Distant Suffering: Media, Morality and Politics, Lilie Chouliaraki - The Spectatorship of Suffering, Susan Sontag - Regarding the Pain of Others, Peter Singer - Famine, Affluence and Morality or Stanley Cohen - Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering.

I'd pick one of those and use them, Singer's is probably the easiest, shortest and most relevant piece. You could contrast it with Living on a Lifeboat by Garrett Hardin.

If you wanted to drag it back to practical examples and individual responses, you could look at adverts/campaigns by people like Oxfam, Amnesty, and MSF, and examine them in terms of moral choices/actions both in terms of what they ask and, probably more importantly how they represent those choices/how they represent the people in them and the people 'consuming' the adverts.

I will look up these texts, thank-you! As for the adverts, do these charities and organisations tend to take a "charity" or "justice" based stance when it comes to aiding distant others, or is it not that black and white? Missed out on a lot of material as I was sick most of this semester so am finding it difficult to piece together even the fundamental material - please excuse my ignorance and thank you for any thoughts/advice/answers from anyone!:)