Or rather, I’d save a central example of a drowning child, but I wouldn’t save a drowning child under literally all circumstances, and I think most people wouldn’t either. If a child was drowning in a scenario similar to one that Singer uses it as an analogy for, it would be something like a scenario where there is an endless series of drowning children in front of me with an individually small but cumulatively large cost to saving them. Under those circumstances, I would not save every drowning child, or even try to maximize the number of drowning children I do save.
I would not, in fact, save a drowning child.
Or rather, I’d save a central example of a drowning child, but I wouldn’t save a drowning child under literally all circumstances, and I think most people wouldn’t either. If a child was drowning in a scenario similar to one that Singer uses it as an analogy for, it would be something like a scenario where there is an endless series of drowning children in front of me with an individually small but cumulatively large cost to saving them. Under those circumstances, I would not save every drowning child, or even try to maximize the number of drowning children I do save.