Responsibility and Fairness

Abstract

Chapter 14 discusses Thomas Pogge’s claim that for most people in the world’s richest countries aiding the needy is a duty, and not merely an optional act of charity or supererogation, because they are partly responsible for the plight of the world’s needy and have engaged in activities that directly or indirectly harmed them or violated their rights. Chapter 14 also argues that considerations of fairness, justice, and equality are relevant to how we should respond to global poverty and the plight of the needy. It notes that these issues raise a host of questions not easily answered. Together, Chapter 14’s considerations further illustrate the extreme complexity of the topics of global poverty, global need, and foreign aid, both normatively and empirically; and the need for pluralism in our thinking if we are to have any hope of determining how to be good in a world of need.