Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter

by Peter Singer

Overview

Provocative essays on real-world ethical questions from the world's most influential philosopher

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691172477
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	09/20/2016
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Acknowledgments xv

Big Questions

The Value of a Pale Blue Dot 3

Does Anything Matter? 6

Is There Moral Progress? 9

God and Suffering, Again 12

Godless Morality (with Marc Hauser) 15

Are We Ready for a “Morality Pill”? (with Agata Sagan) 19

The Quality of Mercy 23

Thinking about the Dead 27

Should This Be the Last Generation? 31

Philosophy on Top 35

Animals

Europe’s Ethical Eggs 41

If Fish Could Scream 44

Cultural Bias against Whaling? 47

A Case for Veganism 50

Consider the Turkey: Thoughts for Thanksgiving 55

In Vitro Meat 60

Chimpanzees Are People, Too 63

The Cow Who . . . 66

Beyond the Ethic of the Sanctity of Life

The Real Abortion Tragedy 73

Treating (or Not) the Tiniest Babies 77

Pulling Back the Curtain on the Mercy Killing of Newborns 81

No Diseases for Old Men 85

When Doctors Kill 89

Choosing Death 93

Dying in Court 97

Bioethics and Public Health

The Human Genome and the Genetic Supermarket 103

The Year of the Clone? 106

Kidneys for Sale? 110

The Many Crises of Health Care 114

Public Health versus Private Freedom? 118

Weigh More, Pay More 122

Should We Live to 1,000? 125

Population and the Pope 129

Sex and Gender

Should Adult Sibling Incest Be a Crime? 135

Homosexuality Is Not Immoral 139

Virtual Vices 142

A Private Affair? 146

How Much Should Sex Matter? (with Agata Sagan) 150

God and Woman in Iran 154

Doing Good

The One-Percent

Solution 159

Holding Charities Accountable 163

Blatant Benevolence 167

Good Charity, Bad Charity 171

Heartwarming Causes Are Nice, But Let’s Give to Charity with Our Heads 175

The Ethical Cost of High-Price Art 179

Preventing Human Extinction (with Nick Beckstead and Matt Wage) 182

Happiness

Happiness, Money, and Giving It Away 191

Can We Increase Gross National Happiness? 195

The High Cost of Feeling Low 199

No Smile Limit 202

Happy, Nevertheless 205

Politics

Bentham’s Fallacies, Then and Now 211

The Founding Fathers’ Fiscal Crisis 215

Why Vote? 219

Free Speech, Muhammad, and the Holocaust 222

The Use and Abuse of Religious Freedom 225

An Honest Man? 229

Is Citizenship a Right? 232

The Spying Game 236

A Statue for Stalin? 239

Should We Honor Racists? 243

Global Governance

Escaping the Refugee Crisis 249

Is Open Diplomacy Possible? 253

The Ethics of Big Food 257

Fairness and Climate Change (with Teng Fei) 260

Will the Polluters Pay for Climate Change? 264

Why Are They Serving Meat at a Climate Change Conference? (with Frances Kissling) 268

Dethroning King Coal 273

Paris and the Fate of the Earth 277

Science and Technology A Clear Case for Golden Rice 283

Life Made to Order 287

Rights for Robots? (with Agata Sagan) 291

A Dream for the Digital Age 295

A Universal Library 298

The Tragic Cost of Being Unscientific 302

Living, Playing, Working How to Keep a New Year’s Resolution 307

Why Pay More? 310

Tiger Mothers or Elephant Mothers? 313

Volkswagen and the Future of Honesty 317

Is Doping Wrong? 321

Is It OK to Cheat at Football? 324

A Surfing Reflection 328

Afterword to the Paperback Edition 331

Index 335

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Peter Singer is among the most vital moral voices of our time. He urges us to confront not only the question of what we should not do, but also the harder and larger questions of what we should do, and how much we owe to others."—Larissa MacFarquhar, author of Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help

"Read this book. Every chapter will make you think. Some hopefully will make you think differently."—Dean Karlan, coauthor of More Than Good Intentions: Improving the Ways the World's Poor Borrow, Save, Farm, Learn, and Stay Healthy

"Peter Singer might well be the most important philosopher alive. He is certainly one of the most enjoyable to read, and it's a joy to browse through this collection of his smart short essays. This is public philosophy at its best—clear, controversial, and deeply rational."—Paul Bloom, author of Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil

"Peter Singer has done more good for the world than any other living philosopher, with ideas that have helped fight poverty, transform medical ethics, and protect animals. In this collection of popular essays, his intellect, courage, humanity, good sense, and good humor shine through. This is practical philosophy at its very best, stripped of all pretense and wisely applied to the most important questions of our time."—Joshua Greene, author of Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them

"Peter Singer, one of the world's best-known and most significant philosophers, addresses some profoundly important issues in this book. He presents the issues and arguments with a lucidity, accessibility, and sharpness reminiscent of Bertrand Russell, another philosopher who sought to have a serious social impact. Ethics in the Real World will undoubtedly be a force for the good."—Bart Schultz, University of Chicago

"Perhaps more than any modern philosopher, Peter Singer has focused on the question of how to live a better life. If you want a philosophy that can directly alleviate human and animal suffering, read this wonderful book."—Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith, The Moral Landscape, and Waking Up

“I started reading Ethics in the Real World when I was arrested for blocking the entrances of petrol terminals, as part of a Just Stop Oil protest, and finished it when I was in custody for a protest with the animal rights and climate group, Animal Rebellion. When I am expecting to be arrested after a protest, I bring a book to read while being held in police custody. This made a fantastic custody book!”—Oliver Clegg, activist

Editorial Reviews

This book is interesting because it offers a chance to witness this influential thinker grapple with more offbeat questions. Among the essay titles here: "Should Adult Sibling Incest Be a Crime?"; "Is It O.K. to Cheat at Football?"; "Tiger Mothers or Elephant Mothers?"; "Rights for Robots?"; and "Kidneys for Sale?" This book is the equivalent of a moral news conference…What carries you is the quality of [Singer's] thought. He is persuasive on so many topics that he makes you wish we could turn the world off, then on again, in an attempt to reset it.

The New York Times - Dwight Garner

"An accessible introduction to the work of a philosopher who would not regard being described as ‘accessible' as an insult. . . . Despite their brevity, the essays do not shirk the big moral questions."

The Economist

"The essays in the present volume address issues well beyond Singer's normal range of commentary. In sum, this book not only provides a broad-based introduction to Singer¹s moral philosophy but also will serve . . . as an excellent textbook for any course in applied ethics. For philosophers, Singer's work provides a model for how to transition from the ivory tower to the domain of public philosophy."

Choice

Longlisted for the 2017 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, Pen American Center

"In his new book, Ethics in the Real World, Mr. Singer picks up the topics of animal rights and poverty amelioration and runs quite far with them. . . . This book is interesting because it offers a chance to witness this influential thinker grapple with more offbeat questions."--Dwight Garner, New York Times

"Perhaps more than any modern philosopher, Peter Singer has focused on the question of how to live a better life. If you want a philosophy that can directly alleviate human and animal suffering, read this wonderful book."--Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith, The Moral Landscape, and Waking Up

"Could well inspire conversations--and arguments--that deepen and complicate the crucial moral and ethical issues that Singer presents."--Kirkus

"An accessible introduction to the work of a philosopher who would not regard being described as 'accessible' as an insult. . . . Despite their brevity, the essays do not shirk the big moral questions."--Economist

"Philosophy should be a more public endeavor, and Singer's work is an excellent entry point. In a fall that will be shaped by a political contest in many ways detached from genuinely pressing moral issues, it might also serve as a refreshingly complex source of ethical questioning."--Talya Zax, Forward

"Singer demonstrates how to write pungently and succinctly about moral philosophy."--Daniel Johnson, Standpoint

From the Publisher

2016-07-19
Collected opinion pieces from a renowned ethicist.Australian philosopher Singer (Bioethics/University Center for Human Values, Princeton Univ.; The Most Good You Can Do: How Affective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically, 2015, etc.) has written, famously and controversially, about such issues as animal liberation, abortion, equality, altruism, global health, and attainment of a common good. His new volume gathers 82 short pieces—all under 1,000 words—most of which were contributions to Project Syndicate, a news service for more than 450 media outlets in 153 countries. Singer acknowledges that such pieces often are “ephemeral” and lack the “nuances and qualifications that could be explored in a longer essay.” Because his tone is characteristically sedate, the short form unfortunately flattens the impact of some emotionally laden topics: whether physicians are justified in carrying out euthanasia on severely impaired newborns; whether adult sibling incest should be considered a crime; whether demented, aged adults should be treated with antibiotics; and whether obese individuals should be taxed for excess weight. Among the essays on “Doing Good” are several pieces about how to evaluate charities for giving; Singer argues that supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation to “fulfill the superhero fantasies of a five-year-old” is less responsible than contributions to organizations that provide surgeries, mosquito nets, and treatments against blindness. In a section on animals, Singer, who has not eaten meat for 40 years, exposes the cruelty involved in the poultry industry, cattle farms, and fishing; it is not merely the method of killing animals that he objects to, but the suffering that animals experience while alive. In a previously unpublished piece, he suggests bringing up at Thanksgiving dinner the ethical implications of eating turkey. Many pieces could well inspire conversations—and arguments—that deepen and complicate the crucial moral and ethical issues that Singer presents.

Kirkus Reviews

"An accessible introduction to the work of a philosopher who would not regard being described as ‘accessible' as an insult. . . . Despite their brevity, the essays do not shirk the big moral questions."

Economist

"An accessible introduction to the work of a philosopher who would not regard being described as ‘accessible' as an insult. . . . Despite their brevity, the essays do not shirk the big moral questions."

Economist