#196 Peter Singer: Ethics, Veganism, And Effective Altruism
REUPLOAD OF PETER SINGER’S INTERVIEW
Dr. Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and a Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne. He specializes in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, utilitarian perspective. He is known in particular for his book Animal Liberation (1975), in which he argues in favor of veganism, and his essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, in which he argues in favor of donating to help the global poor. He has written, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 50 books, including Practical Ethics, The Expanding Circle, Rethinking Life and Death, One World, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason) and The Point of View of the Universe (with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek). His writings have appeared in more than 25 languages.
In this episode, we first get into how we morality can be objective, and issues regarding our evolved morality and its conflicting features, the limitations of reason, and if it is possible to derive moral values from science. We talk about how personality might influence the philosophies that people develop, and if it would be acceptable to nudge people’s behavior through environmental tweaks. We then discuss effective altruism and its several flavors, and if we should eliminate all suffering. In the latter part of the interview, we talk about some specific subjects, like veganism, human enhancement, and euthanasia. Toward the end, we also discuss moral foundations theory, and if it should influence the way people do moral philosophy.
Time Links:
Can morality be objective?
How to deal with our evolved morality
The possible limits of reason
Can we derive moral values from science?
Do moral philosophers disagree because they have different personalities?
Would it be acceptable to nudge people’s behavior?
What is effective altruism?
The things effective altruists care about
Should we really aim at eliminating all suffering?
Veganism, and how to decide which animals to include in our moral circle
Human enhancement, genetic engineering, and transhumanism
Euthanasia
Should moral foundations theory (Jonathan Haidt’s work) influence how people do moral philosophy?
Should we allow for behaviors that could destabilize society?
Follow Dr. Singer’s work!
Follow Dr. Singer’s work:
Website: https://bit.ly/2CxGqpS
Faculty page (Princeton): https://bit.ly/2Jh9fdA
Faculty page (Melbourne): https://bit.ly/2XttGv3
Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Llq3CL
Twitter handle: @PeterSinger