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Articles

Problems of Affluence in Morality

Do we have a duty to give to charity? Kevin Smith weighs up the possible responses to an ethical dilemma we’ve all faced at one time or another.

A letter arrives at your home. It is a mailshot from a respected Third World charity, asking you to donate a modest sum of money (say £100). The letter assures you that your donation will help save the life of at least one impoverished Third World child. Your first instinct is to send the money. However, before you even reach for your chequebook, you remember that you had been promising to treat yourself to a new jacket.

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