Moral Demandingness and Supererogatory Beneficence

Upon weighing various moral theories of beneficence, a spectrum of demandingness emerges from the highly permissive to the extremely taxing. Thus, as moral agents, it is incumbent upon us to determine which theory, if any, yield the correct conclusion about our obligation to aid fellow humans in times both of most egregious suffering or of most marginal inequality.

Further, especially when a moral theory is particularly demanding, it is important to ask whether we, as imperfect, fallible, hu...