ABSTRACT
The discovery that people far away are in bad shape seems to generate a sense of guilt on the part of many articulate people in our ("wealthy") part of the world, even though they are no worse off now that we have heard about them than they had been before. Duties that involve doings rather than refrainings are harder to come by. Prospects for a universal agreement to help others when they need help, as an enforceable duty, are poor. Some areas of human action reflect special interests-the bowling league or the chamber-music society. What measures the relevant marginal benefit to the recipient is not cardinal interpersonal utility, but intuitive assessment by the agent doing the contributing. Basic human rights are negative, and thus that the basic human duties-the ones that our fellows may insist on, with threats of punishment for noncompliance-are to avoid inflicting evils on people.
