Islands in a Sea of Obligation: Limits of the Duty to Rescue

John Harris muses, "If we sometimes take comfort from the reflection that no man is an island, we may sometimes ponder just how, or how far, we are involved in mankind."2 I cite Harris's musing not as a preface to criticizing it but simply because I find it fascinating. I have tried to imagine what it would be like to take comfort from the reflection that no man is an island. I am involved in certain patterns of interdependence, and not others. The bare fact of being so involved seems neither lamentable nor comforting. To be sure, I am glad I can depend on others in the ways I do, but I equally am glad I need not depend on others in the ways I do not. It is a near-miraculous fact that I live in a society that can support full-time intellectuals. Making a living as an intellectual means that in some ways I am not an island. So be it. I take no comfort from that. Is it only in some ways that I am not an island? I do not know why some people will find that thought disturbing, but I realize they will. I take no comfort from that either. My main question is: if we have a duty to rescue in a local emergency, must we also have a duty to rescue people from chronic famine in foreign countries? Most of the literature in this area seems to consist of reflections on thought experiments. It's not my style,