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

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.