A Philosopher's Take on What the Rich Should Give
Sunday’s NYT’s magazine article features a philosopher’s take from Princeton’s Peter Singer on why the wealthy give and, based on those motivations, how much they should give.
He cites as one perspective, the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Herbert Simons whose believes that “social capital” is responsible for 90% of what people earn in wealthy societies (this includes not only natural resources but things like the presence of good government) from which one could surmise that the rich to keep only 10% of what they earn.
From Thomas Pogge, a philosopher at Columbia University, he explores the idea that at least some of our affluence comes at the expense of the poor. “In this light, our obligation to the poor is not just one of providing assistance to strangers but one of compensation for harms we have caused and are still causing them.” If you fit this category, Singer doesn’t make quite as clear what your response “should” be but, if I'm reading him right, he implies that your giving should go to correct systemic abuses.
He also discusses Zell Kravinsky who “...gave almost all of his $45 million real estate fortune to health-related charities, retaining only his modest home in Jenkintown, near Philadelphia, and enough to meet his family’s ordinary living expenses." Zell is a mathematician who is “pained” when folks are unable to understand that “simple logic” that also caused him to contribute one of his kidneys. In his mind, withholding that kidney means you value your own life 4,000 times to that of a stranger. He would also give up his own kid's life if it would save a 1,000 others.
At least two take-aways:
- I haven’t given enough this year and will write a check that “hurts” in the days left before the year end.
- How we view our giving is immensely personal, but how we manifest that giving might rightly be in synch with our broader values, ethics and beliefs. This is not easy task, this living of an “examined life,” but one well worth pursuing more consciously in the new year.
Posted at 12:50 PM, Dec 22, 2006 in High Net Worth Donors | Permalink | Comment