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

Singer, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 069117847X ISBN 13: 9780691178479

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2017

Synopsis

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. Now with a new afterword by the author, this provocative and original book will challenge--and possibly change--your beliefs about many real-world ethical questions.

About this title

Review:

"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

"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

"A terrific recent book . . . that wrestles with how much we should donate to charity, and whether wearing a $10,000 watch is a sign of good taste, or of shallow narcissism."---Nicholas Kristof, New York Times

"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

About the Author:

Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne. He first became well known internationally in 1975 with the publication of Animal Liberation. His other books include How Are We to Live?, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), and The Most Good You Can Do. He divides his time between Princeton and Melbourne.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 069117847X
• ISBN 13: 9780691178479
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 376