In the paper titled “Lifeboat Earth” the author, Onara O’Neill, a celebrated and world-renowned philosopher, takes a deontological approach towards the issue of global poverty and the moral responsibility of eradicating (deaths ensuing from) world hunger through famine relief aid extended by the First-World countries. An ardent supporter of Kantian ethics, as evidenced by the content of her papers and emphasis on duty as shall be discussed; O’Neill emphasizes and seeks answers as to the moral responsibility of those in well-to-do situations, to lessen the hardships faced by those that are worse off. In that, through means of drawing a parallel, in terms of a metaphor; she likens the earth to a lifeboat with limited resources, adrift at sea. …show more content…
The principle is based on the fact that people in general have an inherent right not to be killed, and so as follows, a corresponding duty not to kill; which would be in accordance with the fair, just and equitable treatment of human beings and as such, the value and/or worth of human life as a whole. This treatment, of course, would be meted out regardless of any sort of discrimination; whether it be in the form of moral or economic worth. A Kantian philosophical approach in …show more content…
Firstly, the term “Unavoidable killing” is altogether too subjective, and open to interpretation by the individual in consideration, with barely, if any, line to be draw, even reasonably. (That is, there would be too many factors to account for and accommodate, making us rely on rules devised to benefit the majority. A one-sided utilitarian approach at best.) Moreover, sighting for instance the very case mentioned in her paper, that of running over a child in a vehicle; one could argue that until all accidents and risks to death be eliminated, humans should altogether abandon the use of cars as a whole. Although maybe morally praiseworthy and even implementable or possible, such a solution would be far from practical or plausible. The issue raised here is obviously that of what then would actually constitute as an unavoidable killing? And till what extent would one have to go to prevent such an occurrence. A major issue, considering this to be the central premise of her paper. (Similar to how someone in the West would invoke having to sacrifice resources for future generations and/or offspring, in an effort to alleviate suffering for those people who are “inept” at providing for