The Philosophers' Magazine

Issue 47, 4th quarter 2009

Thinking on Screen

Julian Baggini
Pages 25-33

The austere optimist

If you’re thinking ethically you ought to try to take the point of view from which you consider whether you could prescribe the action if you were in the position of all of those affected by it. I think that if you consider the situation of poverty and affluence, if you were really to put yourself in the position of the poor person and the affluent person, and ask yourself whether you could support the view that the affluent person doesn’t give anything to the poor, you couldn’t.