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Practical Ethics

Peter Singer · 1979 · Medium (150–350 pages)

3.7 from 3 reviews · 44 views

Applied ethicsAnalyticUtilitarianism
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What it is

Singer applies a consistent utilitarian framework, based on the equal consideration of interests, to a series of contested practical questions. He begins with the nature of ethics and the principle of equality, then argues that the interests of animals deserve equal consideration and that our treatment of them is indefensible. Chapters on taking life examine killing animals, abortion and embryo research, and euthanasia, including the treatment of severely disabled newborns. Others ask how much the affluent owe people in extreme poverty, what is owed to refugees, how we should value the natural environment, and when it is justified to break the law. The book closes by asking why anyone should act morally at all. It has been revised several times, and the third edition of 2011 adds material on climate change. Its conclusions on infanticide and disability have drawn sustained protest.

Why read it

It shows what follows when an ethical theory is applied consistently to real questions, and it forces readers to justify their own views on animals, poverty and life and death.

Where to start

Begin with the chapters on equality for animals and on rich and poor, which show the method most clearly.

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Reviews

  1. Ethan Mercer

    Everyone in my society has read 'Famine, Affluence, and Morality'; fewer have read this, which is a pity, because the book version shows the whole system. As the group's resident sceptic I think the chapter on rich and poor proves too much, and Singer is better at pressing the demand than at explaining why so few people meet it. Still essential.

  2. Dima Nasser

    I want to be fair: Singer argues carefully and he is right about animals and about poverty. But the chapters that treat disabled lives as measurably worse, and as candidates for being ended, are written as though people like me are a thought experiment rather than readers. Disability scholars have answered him in detail. Read it, but read them too.

  3. Anand Pillai

    I grew up among Jains, so the chapter on animals felt like hearing an old argument in a new accent. Singer gets there through interests and suffering rather than through non-violence as a spiritual discipline, but the practical conclusions overlap a great deal. The environment chapter is the weakest; it treats ecosystems mostly as sums of sentient individuals.