Ethics in the Real World: 90 Essays on Things That Matter - A Fully Updated and Expanded Edition

  • 5h 58m
  • Peter Singer
  • Princeton University Press
  • 2023

Peter Singer is often described as the world’s most influential philosopher. He is also one of its most controversial. The author of important books such as Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, Rethinking Life and Death, and The Life You Can Save, he helped launch the animal rights and effective altruism movements and contributed to the development of bioethics. Now, in Ethics in the Real World, Singer shows that he is also a master at dissecting important current events in a few hundred words.

In this book of brief essays, he applies his controversial ways of thinking to issues like climate change, extreme poverty, animals, abortion, euthanasia, human genetic selection, sports doping, the sale of kidneys, the ethics of high-priced art, and ways of increasing happiness. Singer asks whether chimpanzees are people, smoking should be outlawed, or consensual sex between adult siblings should be decriminalized, and he reiterates his case against the idea that all human life is sacred, applying his arguments to some recent cases in the news. In addition, he explores, in an easily accessible form, some of the deepest philosophical questions, such as whether anything really matters and what is the value of the pale blue dot that is our planet. The collection also includes some more personal reflections, like Singer’s thoughts on one of his favorite activities, surfing, and an unusual suggestion for starting a family conversation over a holiday feast.

Provocative and original, these essays will challenge—and possibly change—your beliefs about a wide range of real-world ethical questions.

About the Author

Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University and the recipient of the Berggruen Prize for ideas that shape human self-understanding. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, and The Life You Can Save.

In this Book

  • Introduction
  • A Pale Blue Dot at the Hinge of History
  • Does Anything Matter?
  • Is There Moral Progress?
  • The God of Suffering
  • Do You Have a Moral Plan?—(with Agata Sagan)
  • Are We Ready for a “Morality Pill”? (with Agata Sagan)
  • The Empathy Trap
  • Can Ethics Be Taught?
  • Thinking about the Dead
  • Should This Be the Last Generation?
  • The Case for Going Vegan
  • Why Loving Our Animals is Not Enough—(with Agata Sagan)
  • Learning from Europe's More Ethical Eggs
  • If Fish Could Scream
  • The Nation of Kangaroos
  • Who is a Person?
  • The Cow Who …
  • The Measure of Moral Progress
  • Are Insects Conscious?
  • Plant Liberation?
  • The Real Abortion Tragedy
  • Abortion, Democracy, and the Reversal of Roe
  • Treating (or Not) the Tiniest Babies
  • Pulling Back the Curtain on the Mercy Killing of Newborns
  • Should Children Have the Right to Die?
  • No Diseases for Old Men
  • When Doctors Kill
  • Choosing Death
  • Public Health versus Private Freedom
  • The Human Genome and the Genetic Supermarket
  • An Ethical Pathway for Gene Editing—(with Julian Savulescu)
  • Kidneys for Sale?
  • Deciding Who Lives and Who Dies
  • Were the Lockdowns Justified?—(with Michael Plant)
  • Victims of the Unvaccinated
  • Ending the Taboo on Talking about Population—(with Frances Kissling and Jotham Musinguzi)
  • Should Adult Sibling Incest Be a Crime?
  • Homosexuality is not Immoral
  • A Private Affair?
  • How Much should Sex Matter?—(with Agata Sagan)
  • Ban the Burkini?
  • The Case for Legalizing Sex Work
  • Holding Charities Accountable
  • Good Charity, Bad Charity
  • Heartwarming Causes are Nice, But …
  • The Ethical Cost of High-Priced Art
  • Extreme Altruism
  • The Lives You Saved
  • Happiness, Money, and Giving it Away
  • Can We Increase Gross National Happiness?
  • The Moral Urgency of Mental Health—(with Michael Plant)
  • Prisoners of Pain
  • No Smile Limit
  • Happy, Nevertheless—Harriet McBryde Johnson | 1957–2008
  • The Founding Fathers’ Fiscal Crisis
  • Why Vote?
  • Is Citizenship a Right?
  • The Spying Game
  • Is Marx Still Relevant?
  • Should We Honor Racists?
  • Is Violence the Way to Fight Racism?
  • Are Riots Justifiable?—(with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek)
  • The Refugee Dilemma
  • Is Open Diplomacy Possible?
  • Paris and the Fate of the Earth
  • Greta Thunberg's Moment
  • Stopping Putin
  • A Clear Case for Golden Rice
  • Life Made to Order
  • A Dream for the Digital Age
  • The Tragic Cost of Being Unscientific
  • Free Speech, Muhammad, and the Holocaust
  • Free Speech and Fake News
  • Why Google was Wrong
  • Keeping Discussion Free
  • Why Pay More?
  • Beyond the Traditional Family—(with Agata Sagan)
  • Tiger Mothers or Elephant Mothers?
  • How Honest are We?
  • Is Doping Wrong?
  • Is it OK to Cheat at Football?
  • Why Climb Mount Everest?
  • A Surfing Reflection
  • Should We Live to 1,000?
  • Rights for Robots?—(with Agata Sagan)
  • Can Artificial Intelligence Be Ethical?
  • Do You Want to Be a Cyborg?—(with Agata Sagan)
  • Preventing Human Extinction—(with Nick Beckstead and Matt Wage)
  • Should We Colonize Outer Space?—(with Agata Sagan)
  • Do Aliens Have Rights?
  • Sources
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