ABSTRACT
This chapter concludes on a highly personal note. What responsibility, if any, do we have as private individuals to ease the burden of poverty or lack of resources of people in the developing world? The traditional perspective of Garrett Hardin, who argues that an individual has a moral responsibility NOT to provide assistance, is contrasted with Peter Singer’s argument that every individual in the developed world is obligated to provide some level of assistance to alleviate poverty and hunger in the developing world. Since economic and geopolitical interdependency are growing at a dizzying rate, and as a result the developed world is more and more tied to the developing world, then isn’t the wealthy individual duty bound to reach out and assist the poor individual as a matter of reciprocity and justice? Perhaps there are responsibilities that are incumbent upon all the actors on the worldwide stage of development: perhaps victims of unfair treatment in sweatshops have a responsibility to organize, activists have a responsibility to raise awareness, consumers have a responsibility to use their purchasing power, and CEOs have a responsibility to negotiate in good faith with their employees. The chapter ends with an examination of the ideas that form the core of this book: fairness, equity, and justice.
