Kwame Anthony Appiah teaches philosophy
at N.Y.U. His books include ‘‘Cosmopolitanism,’’
‘‘The Honor Code’’ and ‘‘The Lies That Bind:
Rethinking Identity.’’overhaul of Mexican health care in 2019,
public hospitals there have, in the past cou-
ple of years, experienced a severe short-
age of cancer drugs, among other medi-
cations. People across Mexico depend on
the public system’s free or low-cost care;
when the government slashed its budget
for pharmaceutical procurement, those
in need of expensive drugs were simply
left without options. An expert in Mex-
ican health care told me that President
López Obrador has promised to remedy
the situation, in response to widespread
protests, but wasn’t optimistic that the cri-
sis would be fully resolved anytime soon.
Given the president’s promises, though, if
your housekeeper goes to one of the gov-
ernment hospitals in a major town — my
expert told me that juvenile- cancer treat-
ment in these hospitals tends to be pretty
good — the money for the drugs is now
supposed to be available.
But let’s assume it isn’t. Does this sys-
temic failure require that you deplete your
savings? Most Americans could save the
lives of many poor children somewhere
in the world if they spent all their savings.
There’s a philosophical debate between
those utilitarians, like Peter Singer, who
think that not doing so is a moral failure
and those of us who think that we can
be obliged to do only our fair share to
meet the needs of the poor. At the same
time, those utilitarians wouldn’t think you
had any special reason to help this child
(that $1,500 could surely do more good
elsewhere), whereas it seems to me that
people may have an ethical call on you
because of this sort of chance connection.
But given your resources, and the strength
of your connection, you can reasonably
judge that you’ve done your fair share to
help this child. And giving money isn’t the
only way you can be of assistance; there
could be benefi t in doing a bit more inves-
tigation and directing the woman and her
daughter to the right health care NGO.
I am a white man. I have a great friend
who is also a white man, and a really
brilliant artist. He did a work featuring
an African American couple that I liked
so much I persuaded him to sell it to me.
I got the idea to commission him to
create portraits of women of color, some
famous and some not famous, but all
signifi cant in some way and all of whom
contributed to the U.S. or in some cases
Most Americans
could save the
lives of many
poor children
somewhere in
the world if
they spent all
their savings.the wider world in ways that deserve
recognition. My intent was to support
the creation of beautiful art that featured
people who are often unconsidered and
unrecognized and to eventually
exhibit it, with any proceeds going to
organizations that work to advance and
promote issues related to women of color.
Now, many created works in,
it occurred to me that two white guys
making art representing women of
color might be unethical. Should I have
only commissioned such work from
women artists of color? Should I have
even considered this project? Should I
have just donated the money directly?Name WithheldThis sounds like an interesting art project.
Commissioning such paintings by women
of color would be an interesting project,
too. Still, we don’t want to live in a world
where only Black artists are commissionedto paint Black people and only white artists
to paint white people, where men are to be
rendered by men, women by women, and
so on. Nobody should wish to purge Alice
Neel’s oeuvre of the remarkable portraits
she made of her Harlem neighbors, many
of them men of color.
So it’s hard to fault you for encourag-
ing an artist you admire to do work you
admire, creating portraiture that others
can enjoy, while you hope, generating
money for a good cause. What’s the argu-
ment for the other side? Well, given your
reference to ‘‘proceeds,’’ you might ask
whether the current art market is likely
to reward your vision. What you have in
mind isn’t unethical; you’re not taking
work away from women artists of color.
But it may not be very practical.