ABSTRACT
The multiplied beneficence argument (MBA) has been much discussed in recent years and has been accepted by some, most particularly Peter Singer. Those who embrace the MBA acknowledge that what might at first seem a duty of minimal beneficence will, when one considers the requirements of the MBA, mushroom to huge proportions. The only question for Norma is whether she ought, as Singer at one point suggested, literally to beggar herself to the condition of a Bengali refugee. The MBA invites people to reject the notion that they have any positive duties of beneficence to others; in doing so, it appears to back up an all-too-common slippery slope argument. People have positive duties of beneficence, to the extent the MBA leads people to deny such duties, the MBA is pernicious. The general duty is determined by facts and moral principles; it includes a cutoff point, in the form of a statement of how many children Norma ought to help.
