Practical Ethics / Edition 3

by Peter Singer

Overview

For thirty years, Peter Singer's Practical Ethics has been the classic introduction to applied ethics. For this third edition, the author has revised and updated all the chapters, and added a new chapter addressing climate change, one of the most important ethical challenges of our generation. Some of the questions discussed in this book concern our daily lives. Is it ethical to buy luxuries when others do not have enough to eat? Should we buy meat from intensively reared animals? Am I doing something wrong if my carbon footprint is above the global average? Other questions confront us as concerned citizens: equality and discrimination on the grounds of race or sex; abortion, the use of embryos for research, and euthanasia; political violence and terrorism; and the preservation of our planet's environment. This book's lucid style and provocative arguments make it an ideal text for university courses and for anyone willing to think about how she or he ought to live.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521707688
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/21/2011
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Peter Singer is currently Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne. He is the author or editor of more than forty books, including Animal Liberation (1975), Rethinking Life and Death (1996) and, most recently, The Life You Can Save (2009). In 2005, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

Table of Contents

1. About ethics; 2. Equality and its implications; 3. Equality for animals?; 4. What's wrong with killing?; 5. Taking life: animals; 6. Taking life: the embryo and the fetus; 7. Taking life: humans; 8. Rich and poor; 9. Climate change; 10. The environment; 11. Civil disobedience, violence and terrorism; 12. Why act morally?

Editorial Reviews

"....It is a widely read and widely taught introduction to the philosophical dimensions of practical moral problems.... All of the chapters have been revised and updated, and a chapter has been added on climate change. Singer's lucid style of exposition and argument are perfect for this sort of introductory text. Every library should have a copy of this book.... Highly recommended...."
—J. H. Spence, Adrian College, CHOICE


"...This third edition keeps the lucid style and provocative arguments of its predecessors, but with a more up to date perspective into current ethical challenges. This makes Practical Ethics not only an ideal text for university courses, but also for anyone who wants to dedicate some serious thinking into how she or he ought to live.... remains a relevant and welcome contribution to ethics."
—Laura Cabrera, Institute for Biomedical Ethics, Basel University, Metapsychology Online Review

From the Publisher