April 2023 MBR The Philosophy Shelf

The Philosophy Shelf

The Rules of Rescue
Theron Pummer
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4314
www.oup.com/us
9780190884147, $29.95, HC, 264pp

https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Rescue-Distance-Effective-Altruism/dp/0190884142

Synopsis: When do you have to sacrifice life and limb, time and money, to prevent harm to others? When must you save more people rather than fewer? These questions might arise in emergencies involving strangers drowning or trapped in burning buildings, but they also arise in our everyday lives, in which we confront opportunities to donate time or money to help distant strangers in need of food, shelter, or medical care. With the resources available, we can provide more help -- or less.

With the publication of "The Rules of Rescue: Cost, Distance, and Effective Altruism", Professor Theron Pummer argues that we are often morally required to engage in effective altruism, directing altruistic efforts in ways that help the most. Even when the personal sacrifice involved makes it morally permissible not to help at all, he contends, it often remains wrong to provide less help rather than more.

Using carefully crafted examples, Professor Pummer defends the view that helping distant strangers is more morally akin to rescuing nearby strangers than most of us realize. The ubiquity of opportunities to help distant strangers threatens to make morality extremely demanding, and Professor Pummer argues, that it is only thanks to adequate permissions grounded in considerations of cost and autonomy that we may pursue our own plans and projects. He ultimately concludes that many of us are required to provide no less help over our lives than we would have done if we were effective altruists.

Critique: Having a special appeal and value for readers with an interest in the philosophy underpinning ethics, philanthropy, charity, and morality, "The Rules of Rescue: Cost, Distance, and Effective Altruism" is a seminal, thought- provoking work which is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Contemporary Philosophy collections. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Rules of Rescue: Cost, Distance, and Effective Altruism" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).

Editorial Note: Theron Pummer (https://theronpummer.com) is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of St Andrews, and Director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs. Previously he was a Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He received his PhD from the University of California, San Diego. Pummer's articles have been published in such journals as The Journal of Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Analysis, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and Philosophical Review.

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