An early version of this essay was originally read at a conference on Ethics, Globalization, and Hunger at Cornell University in 2004.

It was subsequently published as Lou Marinoff, “Ethics, Globalization and Hunger: An Ethicist’s Perspective,” in Ethics, Globalization and Hunger, edited by Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Peter Sandøe (Springer Netherlands, 2007), 29–49.

It is republished here by permission of Springer Nature.

Introduction

While the poor have always been with us, and while hunger is a companion to poverty, our globalizing civilization is witnessing unprecedented disparities represented by excessive wealth and massive starvation. We know that half the world’s population (mostly Asians) are living on one or two dollars a day, while the middle classes of affluent nations enjoy standards of living that feature—and increasingly revolve around—orgiastic hedonism and consumerism, some of it at the expense of the poorest nations.

Globalization has bought much success to many. Among its fruits are instantaneous mobile data exchange and allied information technologies, and the shrinkage of space time via the Internet; the rapid movement of goods and services enabled by complex transportation and communication infrastructures; the transcendence of transnational economic forces over local and even national political constraints; the emancipation and increasing participation of women and members of minority groups across the spectrum of cultural arenas; and an emergent global elite whose members pledge allegiance to planetary management and proudly consider themselves (with some justification) to be “citizens of the world.”

But on the other side of the digital and global divide, in developing nations as well as in failed states, billions of human beings are caught in terrible poverty traps with little or no hope of extricating themselves or their children unaided. Ironically, many forms of “aid” serve only to exacerbate their suffering. To be sure, the globalized rich are not solely responsible for the plight of the marginalized poor: endemic political and commercial corruption, outdated land and property laws, repressive cultural and religious traditions, lack of fundamental education and healthcare—all these things combine to disenfranchise, impoverish, and starve hundreds of millions of unfortunate souls.