Summary Of Peter Singer's Poverty
Silvia Mendoza
Professor Wohlstadter
English 103—11:10
17 April 2014
Singer 's Poverty: A Case of Logics, Emotions, and Values Imagine you have just picked up your paycheck from the office. As soon as you leave the office, all you can think of is paying your bills and spending the rest on items you fancy. Perhaps you wish to buy a new TV, or a new pair of shoes, or a watch that everyone already seems to have except you. On your way to cash it, you stop by a café and a little boy asks you for money to eat. You tell him that you have no spare change (you used a credit card) but you decide to buy him some food so he can eat. Having helped this boy helps you feel like you did the correct thing, and many would argue you did. However, Peter Singer …show more content…
Peter Singer is the author to the “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” article. Singer 's essay argues that there is basically no reason why Americans should not be donating their extra money to those in need. Singer addresses the urgency to donate by appealing to the reader 's sense of ethos, pathos, and logos. Peter Singer uses logos when he explains how the money people use on luxuries can be money people could donate to save a child 's life. Then Singer uses an estimate to emotionally induce people to donate money to save children. According to Singer, "an American household with an income of $50,000 spends around $30,000 annually on necessities...donations to help the world 's poor should be as close as possible to $20,000" (77). Here, Singer tells American people to donate every single dollar that they spend on luxuries to those in need since Americans don 't need the excess money they have while the needy do. Singer’s use of logos here is ineffective in …show more content…
His use of rhetoric is very persuasive; however, towards the end, Singer 's approach to donate every penny in excess causes the whole essay to fall apart because he alienates the audience by trying to make them sacrifice themselves for children that they will most likely never meet. Singer is very effective in using pathos to persuade readers into donating money for the needy, but his use of logos is not very clear since he semi-contradicts himself with the statistics. Singer’s essay mainly consists of the use of pathos. Through pathos, Singer is able to manipulate the audience into thinking that the only solution to world poverty is his solution. By using pathos this way, Singer is able to call everyone who disagrees with him a monster or a heartless person. Singer’s use of pathos is his best and strongest way of persuading people to donate. Singer’s use of logos is his second and last best effort at persuading people to donate money to children in need. Singer throws out various statistics about the United States since it is one of the few countries that can boast their donation ability and by choosing the U.S., Singer is able to increment the effect of pathos on the reader. Finally, Singer hardly uses ethos to establish his point, this causes him to appear less credible and less argumentative. Ultimately, this helps bring down the whole structure of the
Professor Wohlstadter
English 103—11:10
17 April 2014
Singer 's Poverty: A Case of Logics, Emotions, and Values Imagine you have just picked up your paycheck from the office. As soon as you leave the office, all you can think of is paying your bills and spending the rest on items you fancy. Perhaps you wish to buy a new TV, or a new pair of shoes, or a watch that everyone already seems to have except you. On your way to cash it, you stop by a café and a little boy asks you for money to eat. You tell him that you have no spare change (you used a credit card) but you decide to buy him some food so he can eat. Having helped this boy helps you feel like you did the correct thing, and many would argue you did. However, Peter Singer …show more content…
Peter Singer is the author to the “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” article. Singer 's essay argues that there is basically no reason why Americans should not be donating their extra money to those in need. Singer addresses the urgency to donate by appealing to the reader 's sense of ethos, pathos, and logos. Peter Singer uses logos when he explains how the money people use on luxuries can be money people could donate to save a child 's life. Then Singer uses an estimate to emotionally induce people to donate money to save children. According to Singer, "an American household with an income of $50,000 spends around $30,000 annually on necessities...donations to help the world 's poor should be as close as possible to $20,000" (77). Here, Singer tells American people to donate every single dollar that they spend on luxuries to those in need since Americans don 't need the excess money they have while the needy do. Singer’s use of logos here is ineffective in …show more content…
His use of rhetoric is very persuasive; however, towards the end, Singer 's approach to donate every penny in excess causes the whole essay to fall apart because he alienates the audience by trying to make them sacrifice themselves for children that they will most likely never meet. Singer is very effective in using pathos to persuade readers into donating money for the needy, but his use of logos is not very clear since he semi-contradicts himself with the statistics. Singer’s essay mainly consists of the use of pathos. Through pathos, Singer is able to manipulate the audience into thinking that the only solution to world poverty is his solution. By using pathos this way, Singer is able to call everyone who disagrees with him a monster or a heartless person. Singer’s use of pathos is his best and strongest way of persuading people to donate. Singer’s use of logos is his second and last best effort at persuading people to donate money to children in need. Singer throws out various statistics about the United States since it is one of the few countries that can boast their donation ability and by choosing the U.S., Singer is able to increment the effect of pathos on the reader. Finally, Singer hardly uses ethos to establish his point, this causes him to appear less credible and less argumentative. Ultimately, this helps bring down the whole structure of the