would be the characteristics that appeal to a detached and impartial observer . The problem that we come across as humans is the fact that it is next to impossible to become an impartial observer because we are conditioned to prioritise the needs of ourselves and the people that we are immediately associated with over people across the globe who we do not know . In response to Singer , we must ask whether or not it is psychologically possible to act in such a way . Our evolutionary bonds of affection towards our family and friends would restrict us from giving our resources to people that we have no emotional bonds with . This idea , which J . L . Mackie named “ self-referential altruism ” ( Mackie , 1977 ), claims that it is justifiable to give preferential treatment towards an individual on the basis that that person is your lover or child or yourself purely because those people are more important to the moral agent . For example , if one was given the decision to look after their own sick child or the sick child of another , it would be unquestionable to abandon your own child in favour another ’ s . It is here that we
Phil239 can recognise self-referential altruism as being morally positive , and not as something morally neutral . Your duty as a parent is to provide for your children and ensure their safe development into adulthood . To reject your sick child in favour of someone else ’ s sick child seems wrong by intuition , almost as if you rare rejecting your duty and responsibility as a parent . Of course , this point can be argued against in the case that someone else ’ s child is sicker than your own , however in the case that both children are as sick as each other it would be strange to attempt to justify caring for the child of another over your own .
The limits of the impartiality thesis on a person-to-person are made evident up to this point . However , to observe the true extent of what impartiality means for ethics we must take Singer ’ s impartial doctrine to its true extent . Under Singer ’ s strict theory of impartiality , I must not only consider my neighbour as worthy of my efforts and resources but should extend this consideration to the whole world . When I receive my
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