Why Should We Help the Poor Foreigners?

Abstract

【ABSTRACT】The purpose of this paper is to show that we have a moral obligation to help the needy people in poor countries. Confining the scope of morality within the boundary of a national community, many scholars have denied the existence of such a "transnational obligation."They argue that because each community is responsible for the poverty of its members, the poor countries should solve their poverty problems by themselves. For them, the obligation toward "compatriots" (i.e., toward fellow nationals or fellow citizens who share the membership in the same community) takes priority while the obligation toward foreigners is at best secondary, or does not exist. To criticize such a "parochial"approach, this paper will show, on the basis of Thomas W. Pogge' s argument, that we have a moral obligation to help the needy people regardless of their nationality or their relationship to us. Revealing the moral necessity of transnational aid, this paper reminds us that we should do something to relieve global poverty and hunger.