5 - Moral Demandingness and Obligations to Special Relations and Self

Summary

In Chapter 5, I confront the moral demandingness problem: Namely, the demandingness of our positive interpersonal obligations to severely poor people may require us to violate our moral integrity since we are always required to act in order to help others. I argue that we may fulfill our obligations to our severely poor neighbors and also exercise proper self-regard and regard toward our special relations. Thus, affluent people are morally obligated to help the severely poor. But affluent people are simultaneously obligated to violate neither our own moral status nor our own moral integrity. Therefore, we are permitted to form special relations and to pursue our personal projects, which are part of our rational life plans. Affluent people are morally obligated, however, to scrutinize the personal prerogatives we have taken up unchecked and to locate these self-regarding activities against the demands of aiding the severely poor.