The author also notes that some people may be indifferent to the impact they could have, but says this consideration also fails to change how people ought to act. Singer spends time clarifying that people have a right to spend money any way they want, but says that fact does not change the way one ought to spend it. bottled waters) and send proceeds to charity, if they can find a reliable charity. He says his readers ought to sacrifice such a luxury (e.g. Singer says that many of his readers enjoy at least one luxury that is less valuable than a child's life. Singer points out that as many as 27,000 children die every day from poverty that could be easily and cheaply helped by existing charities (see also List of preventable causes of death). Singer argues that it is obvious that an adult ought to save a child from drowning unless that individual is risking something as valuable as the child's life.

Conclusion: Therefore, if you do not donate to aid agencies, you are doing something wrong.

Third premise: By donating to aid agencies, you can prevent suffering and death from lack of food, shelter and medical care, without sacrificing anything nearly as important.

Second premise: If it is in your power to prevent something bad from happening, without sacrificing anything nearly as important, it is wrong not to do so.

First premise: Suffering and death from lack of food, shelter and medical care are bad.

Singer presents the following argument in the book: : 19 In December 2019, Singer announced the release of a revised tenth anniversary edition, available as a free eBook or audiobook from the website of The Life You Can Save, an organization founded to advance the book's ideas. Singer concludes the book by proposing a minimum ethical standard of giving. The book is focused on giving to charity, and discusses philosophical considerations, describes practical and psychological obstacles to giving, and lists available resources for prospective donors (e.g. The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty is a 2009 book by Australian philosopher Peter Singer, in which the author argues that citizens of affluent nations are behaving immorally if they do not act to end the poverty they know to exist in developing nations. The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically

2009 (first edition), 2019 (10th anniversary edition)

Singer the life you can save