Palmer [Donald, professor emeritus of philosophy at College of Marin, Mayfield Pub. Co., Does the center hold?

: an introduction to Western philosophy , 1991] The examples I have listed so far are negative, being obligations we have not to act in certain ways against others. Scanlon also deduces certain principles that put us under a positive obligation to perform certain acts. One is designated as the Rescue Principle : If you are presented with a situation in which you can prevent something very bad from happening, or alleviate someone s dire plight, by making only a slight (or even moderate) sacrifice, then it would be wrong not to do so (224). Contractualism cannot tell us how much sacrifice is required in any specific case, but it does require a judgment concerning this from each of us. Another principle that no one could reasonably reject is the Principle of Helpfulness : if you can be of great help to someone and save that person a great amount of effort without placing any significant hardship on yourself, then you should render aid (224).