The Singer Solution to World Poverty

As always, answer the questions on your own paper and use textual evidence, both direct citations and paraphrase, to support your answers.

  1. PIGSAC to the fifth slash
  2. Peter Singer opens his essay by describing a situation from a movie, yet it could be argue that seeing movies is, in fact, a luxury that one advocating his position should forgo. To what extent does this interpretation undermine singer’s argument?
  3. The example of Bob and his Bugatti is hypothetical. Is this a rhetorical strategy that strengthens or weakens Singer’s argument? Explain why you believe as you do.
  4. Note the places where Singer addresses the counterargument. Where does he concede, and where does he refute?
  5. When does Singer use the pronoun we? When does he use you? How does this shift reflect and contribute to appeals to ethos and pathos?
  6. This selection appeared in the New York Times Magazine (1999). What does that fact tell you about the audience to whom Singer is appealing? To what extent do you think he is effective in reaching them and why?
  7. What ethical choice that people often make does Singer argue is wrong? What is his solution?
  8. Write a précis paragraph (see notes on below).
  9. Write a developed paragraph responding to his argument (agree and add, disagree with reasons, or both).

Purpose: The purpose of the précis is to give as much information about the written work as possible in four sentences. The précis answers the basic who, what, where, when, how, why, and to whom about the rhetorical situation of the discourse.

The sentences:

1. The first sentence includes the name of the writer (usually including a descriptive phrase); the work's genre, title, and date of publication; a rhetorically accurate verb ("asserts," "argues," "implies," "posits," etc., but not "writes" or "states"); and a that clause containing the major assertion (thesis statement) of the work.

2. The second sentence provides an explanation of how the writer develops and/or supports the thesis, usually in chronological order.

3. The third sentence includes a statement of the writer's apparent purpose followed by an in order to phrase. It should assess what the writer wanted the audience to do or to feel as a result of reading the work.

4. The fourth sentence describes the intended audience and/or the relationship the writer establishes with the audience. This sentence should consider how the language of the work excludes or appeals to certain audiences. It may also report the writer's tone.