Travis Timmerman: a Reply to Singer

question 12

True/False

Travis Timmerman: A Reply to Singer
In "A Reply to Singer," Travis Timmerman examines Peter's Singer argument for the claim that we are morally obligated to donate most of our expendable income to aid organizations. Timmerman focuses on the second premise of Singer's argument (which states that if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable importance, we ought, morally, to do it), and argues (i) that Singer fails to justify the truth of this premise and (ii) that there are positive reasons to reject it.
Singer's defense of his second premise rests on the famous "Drowning Child" thought experiment. According to Singer, our intuitive moral reaction to this thought experiment-that it is wrong not to save the life of a drowning child at the expense of new clothes-shows that we already accept the truth of his premise, at least implicitly. Timmerman disagrees. Because we rarely, if ever, find ourselves in the position Singer describes, our intuitive reaction to the "Drowning Child" case is informed, according to Timmerman, by the implicit assumption that it describes an anomalous, one-off event. Timmerman then points out that an intuitive conviction that it is wrong not to make a single, one-time monetary sacrifice to save the life of a child is not the same as, nor does it entail, the belief that we are obligated to spend our entire lives repeatedly making similar sacrifices, as Singer's premise requires of people in situations like ours. Singer's attempt to justify his second premise-by showing that our moral intuitions reveal we already accept it-therefore fails on Timmerman's view.
Timmerman next argues that if we consider a more relevant analogy ("Drowning Children"), in which a person is in a position to save many drowning children everyday over the course of her entire life at comparably insignificant personal cost, our moral intuitions actually conflict with Singer's second premise. Timmerman therefore concludes that not only do our commonsense moral intuitions fail to support Singer's second premise, they also reveal that people positively reject the truth of the premise.
-Timmerman argues that his "Drowning Children" case presents a much more realistic scenario than Singer's "Drowning Child" case.

Understand the primary motivations and factors influencing individuals to start their own business.

Recognize the significance of education and specific coursework in the success of new business owners.

Identify the stages of the start-up process model and the requirements at each stage.

Distinguish between environmental factors and personal or internal factors affecting small businesses.

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Definitions:

Sampling Distribution

The probability distribution of a statistic based on a large number of samples from the same population.

Histogram

A graphical representation of the distribution of numerical data, often used to show frequency distributions.

Coin Tosses

Simple random experiments representing the concept of probability, often used to decide between two equally likely outcomes.

Normal Model

A statistical model that assumes data follows a normal distribution, characterized by its bell-shaped curve.