similar manner to those explored in Chapter 2 in the context of “crises of
humanity”.
But putting this aside, the key point here is the distinction between charity
and justice, which is often identified by humanitarians and cosmopolitans alike as a
crucial distinction. For instance, David Forsythe quotes Jean Pictet: "One cannot at
the same time serve justice and charity. It is necessary to choose. The Red Cross, for
a long time, has chosen charity."^88 Should professional humanitarians choose the
best global justice theory going and devote all their energies to bringing it about?
For a number of reasons, I argue that the distinction between charity and justice
presents us with a false choice.
Firstly, as I argued in Chapter 3, the discretionary, partial choices we make
can be vitally important in generating more humane visions of justice. Until it is
institutionalised as non-discretionary, action is necessarily discretionary. Those who
act on a discretionary basis frequently feel bound by a sense of justice, and of the
just way to act, in the absence of an institutionally perfect world. Even Peter Singer
has to give “to charity” to make his material impact on the world, as indeed he
does, in impressive amounts.^89 Of course, Singer does not accept the discretionary
nature of the obligation he is acting upon. But would he then require an act of
charity, defined as opposed to an act of justice, to be one that was understood at an
individual level as entirely discretionary? As a strict consequentialist, that would
place him in a rather curious position of caring about precise motivations.
But behind this all there is also once again the sense that starting from an
impartial perspective with a concern for humanity at its heart, will yield a better
account of justice. This may be true to some extent at any given point in time, but it
88
David P. Forsythe, The Humanitarians: The International Committee of the Red Cross
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 196. 89
According to Singer’s own website, he currently gives about 25% of his earnings to NGOs,
most of which goes to Oxfam. Peter Singer, "FAQ", Peter Singer. Available at
http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/faq.html; accessed on 16 August 2010. His most
recent statement on why we should follow this example is Peter Singer, The Life You Can
Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty (New York: Random House, 2009). This book has
also inspired a campaign, which claims to have mobilised over $11 million dollars in pledges
between February 2009 and August 2010. See The Life You Can Save. Available at
http://www.thelifeyoucansave.com/; accessed on 16 August 2010.