Peter Singer, Sophie Scott-Brown and Julian Baggini discuss the ethics of inaction.

Is it ever immoral to do nothing?

Watch the full debate at https://iai.tv/video/the-good-the-bad...

We may not always agree on questions of morality, but whatever standards we adopt we apply them to human action. We are less inclined to take a moral stance on human inaction and failure to act. We see for example initiating conflict as different in kind to ignoring conflict. Many would argue that Putin's attack on the Ukrainian people is morally evil, but there is less outrage that we fail to save any of the estimated 5.4 million children under five who died last year from preventable causes.

Is our moral emphasis on human agency a mistake? If we applied morality equally to inaction would it help to mark a shift to a more caring and socially responsible society? Or is the application of morality to inaction an impossible burden for us to carry, and one that risks undermining morality as a whole as we all become culpable all of the time?

#morality #effectivealtruism #ethics

Legendary moral philosopher Peter Singer (joining us live from Australia), eminent philosopher Julian Baggini and provocative historian of ideas Sophie Scott-Brown clash over morality. Hosted by author Robert Rowland Smith.

00:00 Beginning
00:14 Is our emphasis on human agency over inaction a fantasy to justify moral negligence?
00:45 Julian Baggini: there's a sliding scale
02:11 The ethics of supply chains
02:35 Sophie Scott-Brown: is human agency a fantasy?
04:48 Peter Singer on effective altruism
06:48 Julian Baggini: criticism of effective altrusim
09:30 Peter Singer: ideals are worthwhile
10:47 Sophie Scott-Brown on emotional entanglement and apathy
13:12 Would emphasising the failure to act lead to a fairer society?
13:35 Peter Singer on climate change
15:05 Sophie Scott-Brown on the dangers of condemning inaction
16:21 Julian Baggini: we should focus on action, not inaction

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