The Australian moral philosopher Peter Singer has offered the following thought experiment: Imagine you're walking by a river when you see a child struggling to stay afloat. If you jump in to save him, your new pair of shoes will be ruined. But would anyone think twice about ruining the shoes to save the child?
The point of Singer's argument, of course, is that you should not hesitate to give to organizations that save lives around the world -- not that you should cast away your favorite pair of loafers at the first sign of trouble. Despite this, however, a number of charities have taken it upon themselves to start collecting used and new shoes on behalf of the shellshocked victims of the Haiti earthquake.
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