AUSTRALIA AUTHOR · MORAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS · ETHICS
Peter Singer
Also known as: Peter Albert David Singer, Peter A. Singer
Peter Albert David Singer AC (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher and the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specializes in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, utilitarian perspective. He is known in particular for his book Animal Liberation (1975), in which he argues in favor of veganism, and his essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality", in which he argues in favor of donating to help the global poor.
I. By cause of itself I understand that whose essence involves existence, or that whose nature cannot be conceived unless existing.
— from Ethics
Most acclaimed
One World Now
One of the world's most influential philosophers here confronts both the perils and potentials inherent in globalization. Every issue is considered from an ethical perspective, including climate change, foreign aid, human rights, immigration, and the responsibility to protect people from genocide and crimes against humanity. Singer argues powerfully that solving global problems requires transcending national differences.
Rethinking life & death
1995
"Rethinking Life and Death is a book that only the distinguished philosopher Peter Singer could write - a book that creates nothing less than a new set of ethics for the next century. Singer shows just why our traditional ethic of life and death is collapsing all around us - but instead of lamenting the fact, as traditional moralists do, he sees it as an opportunity to move forward to a more soundly based approach." "In discussing themes like euthanasia, brain death, abortion, and the treatment of patients in a persistent vegetative state, Singer boldly discards the old rhetoric and meaningless cliches about the sanctity of human life. Instead he produces a fresh account of when life should be regarded as precious and worth preserving, and when it should not be." "Using provocative case studies, Singer vividly describes the break-up of our current ethic of life and death. He asks penetrating questions like: What are the results of the classic Dutch experiment with voluntary euthanasia? What are its implications for the future and will a similar system work in the United States? Is the definition of death in terms of "brain death" a medical judgment? Or is it an ethical choice based on our need for organs and the emotional and financial futility of keeping human beings in this state alive? Why do we consider it wrong to take organs from a baby born without a brain, but acceptable to take them from an ape? Is it really possible to defend abortion on the grounds of "choice" or do we have to make up our minds first about the status of the fetus and whether it has rights in the first place?" "With Rethinking Life and Death, Peter Singer describes a world that has already begun to be revolutionized by twenty-first-century technology, and in doing so, provides us all with a profound reexamination of the ethics that govern how we live and how we die."--BOOK JACKET.
Ethics
The feminist movement has challenged many of the unstated assumptions on which ethics as a branch of philosophy has always rested - assumptions about human nature, moral agency, citizenship and kinship. The twenty-six readings in this book express the discontent of a succession of fiercely articulate women writers, from Mary Wollstonecraft to the present day, with the masculine bias of 'morality'. The editors have contributed an overall introduction, which discusses ethics, feminism and feminist themes in ethics, and have provided introductions to each of the readings, designed to situate in their historical and intellectual context. They have also compiled two lists for further reading: `Ethics: a Feminist Bibliography' and 'The Male Tradition'. Ethics: A Feminist Reader is an essential resource for students and teachers of philosophy, political theory and women's studies. For anyone with a stake in progressive sexual politics it is an inspirational guide. The volume contains essays by: Mary Wollstonecraft, Cicely Hamilton, Margaret Sanger, Betty Friedan, Christine Delphy, Andrea Dworkin, Rosalind Coward, Nickie Roberts, Emma Goldman, Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Audre Lorde June Jordan, Jacqueline Rose, Judith Williamson, Seyla Benhabib, Alexandra Kollontai, Adrienne Rich, Kate Soper, Catherine A. MacKinnon, Elizabeth Wilson, Susan F. Parrsons, Rosalind Pollack Petchesky, Sara Ruddick and Sheila Jeffreys.