Practical Ethics 3rd Edition

by Peter Singer (Author)

119 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0521707688

ISBN-10: 0521707684

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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.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

Book Description

The third edition of this classic textbook is completely revised and updated featuring a new chapter on climate change.

Publisher : Cambridge University Press; 3rd edition (February 1, 2011)
Language : English
Paperback : 356 pages
ISBN-10 : 0521707684
ISBN-13 : 978-0521707688
Item Weight : 1.04 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #220,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #166 in Ethics
- #1,016 in Philosophy of Ethics & Morality

Customer Reviews:
119 ratings

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2 star		4%
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Michael

Every living person should read through this book at least once

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2015

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This book changed my life, completely altering the way I view morality as a whole and the value (or lack thereof) of life. Because of Peter Singer, I have developed strong yet defensible views regarding contentious topics, including (non-human) animal rights, abortion, and euthanasia. Peter Singer's stances may be controversial, but the logic and reasoning through which he arrives at his claims is impeccable. Simply glancing at a few of Peter Singer's quotes or viewpoints independently online may leave you appalled, but after reading through his brilliant book in its entirety you will have difficulty arguing with his sound logic. Singer takes a very simple premise that many share - that is, that suffering is undesirable and should be reduced as much as possible - and expands upon it developing a comprehensive moral framework that can be consistently applied to a variety of moral dilemmas. Reading "Practical Ethics" will certainly change your outlook on life, and may even lead you to alter or at least reconsider key moral viewpoints you take for granted.

13 people found this helpful

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John Martin

A deeply thoughtout and insigntful guide to making moral decisions on important issues

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2015

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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.

15 people found this helpful

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IndiSty

Not an easy reading

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2019

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There were sentences and paragraphs that I needed to read more than once to understand them. This is not inherently the author’s problem but it might be a problem for casual readers like me. If you are studying ethics as a college student, go for it. If not, it is not gonna be an easy reading.

2 people found this helpful

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Camille Turner

Great read

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2019

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I bought this book for my husband, and he absolutely loves it!! He had wanted it for a very long time. The book covers a myriad of interesting moral issues, and Singer thoroughly explains the concepts and ideas.

3 people found this helpful

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elaine

A Too-Cool for School Read

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2016

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This is now one of my favorite books and it was an assigned read from a cool professor. Got it used and it is worth it. If you even have the slightest interest in philosophy I highly recommend this book. It will open your eyes to different perspectives and make you rethink issues that were seemingly easy to resolve and for some, question your entire belief system. I honestly think that philosophy should be in the high school education curriculum.

5 people found this helpful

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Charlie Parker

Singer does an excellent job of providing a well-considered approach to ethics

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2018

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Mr. Singer does an excellent job of providing a well-considered approach to ethics. This book was able to change my mind on a few things; abortion being one of them. Worth the time to read this very long, but very good book.

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Ian Bryce

Controversial but based in science and reason

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2015

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Singer delivers just what he says - a real guide to ethics which we really encounter. What is his methodology? He draws comparisons between different options (possible courses of action), and analyzes the relative advantages of each. Science and reasoning are his tools. Many of his conclusions are controversial and politically incorrect, but his assumptions are stated and the logic is sound.

2 people found this helpful

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D. H.

Excellent, logical

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2016

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Excellent, logical, and well-reasoned book grounded in good current science that examines some of the most basic questions about how morals should be applied in our daily experiences. While other excellent reviews have provided more information, I would simply add that I enjoyed this book and found the insights most valuable; it's improved my moral thinking significantly.

One person found this helpful

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Roddy Ashworth

Agree with him or not, an excellent, accessible example to help anyone interested in modern ethics

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2020

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I rate Peter Singer very highly even though I disagree with many of his conclusions (and sometimes arguments.)
Singer presents his reasoning in a way that is easy to understand - and disagreeing with him becomes easier, because you can pick out where you think he's gone wrong (if you disagree, that is ...)

I've always said that he's a "people's philosopher" in that he doesn't shroud his writing in complicated language or obscure references. It's an excellent introduction to modern ethical thinking.
It's not a difficult read at all - it's a compelling one. Singer is not shy at tackling subjects including environmentalism, abortion and eating meat products.

To be clear tho - Singer is a world-famous academic in the subject of philosophy and regarded as one of the best ethicists of his generation. That means readers don't have to closely study Kant, JS Mill, JP Satre or (God help you!) Spinoza. He's done all that already.

One person found this helpful

Maria

Very good book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2018

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Bit slow coming in post but worth the wait. We did have snow the week it was to arrive!! Well it’s a good book I have used it to quote and reference my essays! Thank you

Alexander Sokol

Nothing compares to this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2013

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By now, I've read quite a few books on ethics, and in my opinion Singer's book is by far the best. While you may disagree with both his ethical framework (preference utilitarianism, in general) and his arguments, it is undeniable that Singer writes philosophical prose which is unusually forthright and accessible to laypeople. Also, Singer does not shrink from accepting the conclusions that his arguments lead him to: When preference utilitarianism says that infanticide in some situations may be condoned and that we all are moral failures for buying expensive clothing instead of helping children in Africa out of starvation - well, that's what it says, and the conclusion stands. One may doubt the validity of preference utilitarianism because of those conclusions, but the implications are as clear as the consequences of mathematical axioms.

Some years ago, I read another book by Singer, "The life you can safe". I recall Singer in that book as being somewhat infuriating in his arguments and writing style. I did not feel this way at all about this book. Singer begins by explaining that he will analyze good and bad from a preference utilitarian perspective, and he explains what that means and why he thinks it a sensible framework. He then continues to use this framework to discuss for example racial equality between humans, animal rights, abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. While no part of the book can be said to be weak, these initial chapters are in my opinion the strongest. This is probably because Singer here discusses topics where his ethical framework can lead him to clear conclusions using clear, yet nontrivial arguments. Even if you already agree with Singer, these chapters are amazing reading, as he in detail dissects what are valid and invalid arguments for coming to the conclusions you already might believe.

The chapter on material inequality and poverty is probably the most inspirational. Singer is quite merciless in pointing out that from a utilitarian perspective, our low level of assistance to the extreme poor of this world is completely indefensible. A useful point in this is the following conclusion: We can choose between giving more, or abandoning utilitarianism. There is no real middle ground. Singer, however, also realizes that it would take unusual amounts of moral heroism to actually fulfill the requirements of utilitarianism, and discusses middle grounds acceptable to more moderate ethical systems.

The chapters on climate change, the environment and civil disobedience do not give as clear arguments and answers as the previous chapters, probably because these are topics where clear answers are harder to come by, but these chapters are nonetheless illuminating. Climate change presents a particular predicament for utilitarianism: Utilitarianism is to many a sound guide when a consequence has only one cause, namely one's own actions. This is not so with climate change, and the fact that the causes of climate change is spread among the actions of billions of individuals and that none of us, in an isolated sense, make a really significant contribution to climate change, means that utilitarianism has a hard time arguing that our personal CO2 emissions are ethically unsound. This in itself is an important conclusion which motivates thinking about ethical systems which might be better at prescribing how we ought to act as a society.

Singer ends the book with the chapter "Why act morally?", a discussion of why anyone in fact should choose to be moral at all. I find most of his arguments here somewhat weak, although the question itself is quite interesting, and the arguments presented constitute a fair fundament for thinking about this question.

Nonetheless, all in all, I think that Singer's book is a masterpiece of clarity, sound arguments, controversial ideas and a powerful rallying call for all of us to think about whether we want and ought to do better. Even without agreeing with everything Singer believes, I find that this is one of the most inspirational and motivational books I have read in my life. My first thought after finishing it was to buy more so that I could give them to my friends, which I guess is the highest praise a book can get. This is an astounding piece of work.

16 people found this helpful

Niels

A must have! Provokative, enlightening.

Reviewed in Germany on September 8, 2020

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I throughly enjoyed Singer's new book. His approach to modern-day issues is well-written yet easy to understand (even for a non-native), clear, provokative and illuminating. I would recomment this new edition to every single person, even those who read his past editions (this one includes new up-to-date subjects). Thank you for reading!

Peter vH

Wichtiges Werk für alle Ethiker

Reviewed in Germany on September 4, 2015

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Peter Singer ist ein sehr kontrovers diskutierter Philosoph der Neuzeit. Dieses Buch liefert durch Analogien u.ä. viele neue Denkanstöße und verändert vielleicht auch die Sicht auf manche Themen. Ob Anhänger von Singer oder nicht - dieses Buch ist ein Muss für jeden, der sich mit Ethik auseinandersetzen will.

2 people found this helpful

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