Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help

By Joseph Cooper,

Published November 16, 2015 at 1:00 PM EST

11/16/15 - In a world of strangers drowning in need, where do we draw the line of personal responsibility? Consider the classic quandary: should you save your own mother from drowning . . . or two strangers?

We discuss the philosophy of how much we should help, with Larrissa MacFarquhar, who’s written STRANGERS DROWNING: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help. That’s Topical Currents . . . Monday at 1pm.

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Joseph Cooper

WLRN Radio's Joseph Cooper says producing and hosting Topical Currents is the most rewarding experience of his long radio career, which began at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in the 1970s.

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Richard Ives

Richard Ives came to WLRN in September 2000 to begin a new career in radio. Born in Fort Lauderdale, his family moved to Long Island, New York, where he grew up. After graduation from college and an unsatisfying stint in a job that, as he puts it, "paid the bills but for which I had no passion" he found himself contemplating a midlife career change after being laid-off.

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