Philosophy of Charity: From Singer to Spoerl

Participation in charity is one of the moral mechanisms for eradicating economic poverty, and the philosophical debate about it has risen since the 1970s. In this paper, two important philosophical arguments have been formulated and researched by Singer and Spoerl about duty or beyond duty and why and how to participate in charitable affairs. Singer believes that people who are morally obligated are obliged to give their possessions to those in need unless this assistance requires the deprivation of things that are morally comparable to the needs and problems of those in need. Spoerl, along with all the critics, clearly sees this as a rigid condition, and instead believes that people with morals are obliged to give their possessions to the needy, but only after they have met the necessities of life. There is also a serious disagreement between Singer and Spoerl about the definition of the necessities of life, and Spoerl derives a broad definition of it that includes artistic, intellectual, and social values. Singer also does not specify the source of charity, but Spoerl, by separating surplus income from surplus wealth, believes that we simply have a duty to give our surplus income to the needy. Based on the findings of the paper, the lack of prioritization of the needy and its non-separation from the prioritization of needs is evident to some extent in both perspectives, especially Singer's perspective.