This evening, in «Kjelleren», professor Christian Barry, Australian National University, and Henrik Syse, senior research fellow at PRIO and member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, will share some thoughts about what implications it might have not to assist others in need:

When we harm other people our obligations to them are usually pretty clear—we must compensate them for the harm done, and perhaps make amends to them in other ways. But what are our obligations to those whom we fail to assist? Sometimes we may have no obligations whatsoever. We cannot be expected to assist everyone and anyone in need, so there cannot be a general complaint against us for failing to do so. Sometimes, though, it does seem that we have an obligation to assist at least some people. But what are the implications of the fact that many of us choose instead to assist no one? That is the question Barry and Syse take up in this lecture.