Deck 23: A Reply to Singer Travis Timmerman

Question 1

According to Timmerman, the standard objection to Singer's argument is the

A) demandingness objection.
B) repugnant conclusion.
C) right-recognition argument.
D) integrity objection.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Singer supports his key claim-"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"-with

A) the Trolley Problem.
B) the Drowning Child thought experiment.
C) the Hayden and the Oyster thought experiment.
D) the Experience Machine thought experiment.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Timmerman notes that Singer purports to demonstrate that the ethical commitments his typical readers already accept are

A) not demanding enough to require them to donate a substantial portion of their expendable income to aid organizations.
B) not demanding enough to make it even permissible for them to donate a substantial portion of their expendable income to aid organizations.
C) demanding enough to make it permissible for them to donate a substantial portion of their expendable income to aid organizations.
D) sufficiently demanding to require them to donate a substantial portion of their expendable income to aid organizations.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Timmerman argues that his Drowning Children case

A) blocks the inference Singer makes from the intuition in Drowning Child.
B) gives us positive reason to reject Singer's central claim.
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 5

Timmerman characterizes the relationship between Singer's Drowning Child case and the actual circumstances of affluent people as

A) logically equivalent.
B) incoherent.
C) irrelevant.
D) asymmetrical.

Question 6

Timmerman claims Singer's Drowning Child case is deceptive because the implicit assumption is that

A) it is an anomalous event.
B) you and the child live in the same society.
C) the child wants to live.
D) the child doesn't deserve to die.

Question 7

Timmerman would most likely agree that

A) people in affluent countries are morally obligated to provide aid until the point that doing so would bring about more harm than benefit.
B) people in affluent countries are not morally obligated to provide any aid.
C) how much aid people are morally obligated to give is not clear, but reflection on Drowning Children may help answer this question.
D) providing aid usually causes more harm than benefit.

Question 8

Timmerman claims that his thought experiment

A) contradicts Singer's.
B) is superior to Singer's because it better reflects our actual circumstances.
C) is superior to Singer's because it involves a more realistic case.
D) both a and c

Question 9

Timmerman resists Singer's key claim because he

A) holds that individuals have a right to do as they desire with their property.
B) denies that world famine is as bad of a problem as Singer claims.
C) believes that governments, not individuals, should take action to improve conditions.
D) believes that, on reflection, our intuitive judgments do not support the key claim.

Question 10

Timmerman thinks that his Drowning Children case shows that Unlucky Lisa is

A) morally permitted to enjoy some good less important than a child's life at least one time in her own life.
B) morally prohibited from enjoying some good less important than a child's life at least one time in her life.
C) permitted to enjoy non-moral goods such as personal hobbies or luxuries, not by morality, but by self-interest.
D) justified in taking a break from morality every once and a while.

Question 11

According to Timmerman, Singer provides a valid argument that consists of premises that he takes his typical readers to already accept.

Question 12

Timmerman challenges the inference from the intuition that we are obligated to rescue the child in Drowning Child to the truth of Singer's central claim-"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."

Question 13

Timmerman denies that it's intuitive that one should save the child in Singer's Drowning Child.

Question 14

According to Timmerman, all people in an affluent nation, so long as they have some expendable income, will always be in a position to save the lives of people living in extreme poverty.

Question 15

Timmerman claims that one is morally obligated to spend one's entire life making repeated $200 sacrifices to prevent children from drowning.

Question 16

Timmerman argues that his Drowning Children case involving Unlucky Lisa proves that everyone must decide for themselves how seriously to take the demands of morality, and that this is reasonable.

Question 17

Timmerman would agree with Singer that suffering is bad.

Question 18

Timmerman and Singer both employ thought experiments in their arguments.

Question 19

Timmerman's main objection to Singer's Drowning Child case is that it is utilitarian in spirit, whereas Timmerman defends Kantian moral theory.

Question 20

If Timmerman's argument is sound, then most people in affluent countries will not have to substantially change their behavior.

Question 21

Do you think that Singer's inference from his Drowning Child case to his key claim-"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"-is warranted? If it is unwarranted, what principle explains our commonsense verdict that we ought to save the child? Do you think this principle is more or less plausible than Singer's key claim? Explain your answer.

Question 22

If Lisa takes a break from saving children to go to the theater, does her life become more (or less) worthwhile? Defend your answer.

Question 23

Timmerman challenges Singer's argument. However, they nonetheless share some beliefs in common. On what do they agree? How different is Timmerman's conclusion, in terms of practical changes you would have to make to your lifestyle, from Singer's?

Question 24

Suppose you are in Lisa's situation. How many lives would you save? When you stop, what justification would you give? What would you say to the parent of the child who drowns right after you stop helping?