IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cvg/jrsshu/v4y2025i5p42-50.html

Beyond the Drowning Child: Rethinking Moral Urgency Through Singer and the Great Leap Forward

Author

Listed:
  • Yuchen Wang

    (Emory University, 201 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States)

Abstract

Moral urgency commands immediate attention, but it can obscure deeper questions about sustainability and structure. This paper examines the logic behind emergency-driven ethics through Peter Singer’s argument for alleviating global poverty via individual giving. While persuasive in its clarity, this framework risks narrowing moral focus and creating expectations that are difficult to sustain. Using China’s Great Leap Forward as a case study, the paper explores how urgency-centered ethics can produce harm when detached from long-term planning and institutional context. The critique is not of urgency itself, but of its dominance in moral discourse. Drawing on Emerson’s reflections on moral integrity and burnout, the paper proposes an alternative model of responsibility—one that holds space for both immediate compassion and enduring systems of care.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuchen Wang, 2025. "Beyond the Drowning Child: Rethinking Moral Urgency Through Singer and the Great Leap Forward," Journal of Research in Social Science and Humanities, Pioneer Academic Publishing Limited, vol. 4(5), pages 42-50, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cvg:jrsshu:v:4:y:2025:i:5:p:42-50
    DOI: 10.56397/JRSSH.2025.05.07
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.pioneerpublisher.com/jrssh/article/view/1341/1231
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.56397/JRSSH.2025.05.07?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cvg:jrsshu:v:4:y:2025:i:5:p:42-50. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.pioneerpublisher.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.