Princeton professor Peter Singer is one of the world’s most renowned moral philosophers and has been admired and vilified for his views the world over. In Practical Ethics he explores a number of topics with ethical implications. The book is scholarly and requires close attention. I found that reading it one chapter a day and thinking about that chapter to be the best approach. Topics include two introductory chapters, About Ethics and Equality and Its Implications, and chapters on specific topics such as Equality for Animals; What’s Wrong with Killing; Taking Life (three chapters on animals, the embryo and fetus and humans); Rich and Poor; Climate Change and the Environment (two chapters); Civil Disobedience, Violence and Terrorism: and a final chapter on Why Act Morally?
One striking thing about Professor Singer’s comments is how often he refers to science and real-world situations in making his moral judgments. He is not just making abstract comments based on his own reasoning, but instead uses science and the real world. At the same time his thinking is both controversial (he has been physically attacked and denied the right to give talks) and not always, in my view, correct. For example, on page 139 on the topic of abortion he raises the question of whether or not a woman can terminate a pregnancy as a matter of personal convenience. In the example a woman who is two months pregnant decides to terminate the pregnancy because she wants to go mountain climbing. But she still plans to have children in the future. To quote Professor Singer at this point: “Yet if abortion is wrong only because it deprives the world of a future person, this abortion is not wrong. It does not prevent the entry of a person into the world, it merely delays it.” What Professor Singer is missing, of course, is the fact that it DOES prevent the entry of a particular person, namely the aborted fetus. A later pregnancy (not assured since the woman has already changed her mind once) would result in the birth of an entirely different person. People are not like machines that can be discarded and replaced by a duplicate at a later date.
At the same time, many of Professor Singer’s insights provide a new and deeper way of thinking about issues. One example he gives comes from Jonathan Glover. Imagine, Glover says, that in a poor village 100 people are about to eat lunch and each has a bowl with 100 beans. A band of bandits comes in and each bandit grabs one bowl, eats it and gallops off. The villagers are left hungry. But then the bandits have second thoughts and decide to return the following week with a different plan. Each bandit will take only one bean from each bowl. The results, of course, are the same, the villagers starve, but each bandit can say he did only a little harm to each person. This same way of thinking can be applied to such problems as global warming. My actions may only cause a very small part of the problem, but they are still wrong.
This book will change the way you think about the world and your actions in it. I recommend it for anyone who wants to live a decent and moral life.
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Mauro PrestipinoReviewed in Italy on May 23, 2022
Consegna rapidissima ma copertina danneggiata
Consegna rapida in 48h. Purtroppo la copertina del libro è arrivata danneggiata.Consegna rapidissima ma copertina danneggiataMauro Prestipino
Reviewed in Italy on May 23, 2022
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- AvaneeshReviewed in India on December 25, 2013
Excellent book and great packaging!
