Topics Ethics

Question During my day to day affairs, I work to prevent families from becoming homeless. At the same time, I have the feeling that in the context of our economic and social systems we are merely keeping people afloat and, by doing so, removing the political pressure which may result in broader change that may have a more lasting impact. Is it then ethical to continue with my endeavors?

Accepted:
October 13, 2005

Comments

This is an extremely difficult question, and I doubt there is any straightforward answer. It is true that treating the symptoms can make the disease seem less threatening, and so sometimes one feels as if treating the symptoms is, in the long term, counter-productive. But the families you are saving from homelessness will suffer if you do not, and they may not be around to see the longer term benefits a different course of action might permit. So the tension is real, in principle, though there is a question here about whether your work is, in fact, making the underlying causes of homelessness harder to address. My own view, for what it's worth, is that the great majority of people in the United States, anyway, just don't much about the poor.

That said, I wonder whether the choice is as "either-or" as you make it seem. One can do the sort of work you do and be politically active.