488 pages | 18th April, 2023 | Non-fiction | Philosophy; Ethics
A fully updated and expanded edition of Singer’s provocative essays on real-world ethical questions
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.
Provocative and original, these essays will challenge―and possibly change―your beliefs about a wide range of real-world ethical questions.
Longlisted for the 2017 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, Pen American Center
"[Singer] is persuasive on so many topics that he makes you wish we could turn the world off, then on again, in an attempt to reset it."
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
"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."
The Economist
"Philosophy should be a more public endeavor, and Singer's work is an excellent entry point. In a fall that will be shaped by a political contest in many ways detached from genuinely pressing moral issues, it might also serve as a refreshingly complex source of ethical questioning."
Talya Zax, Forward
Peter Singer is widely acknowledged as the father of the animal rights movement and one of the most renowned writers on contemporary ethics. He is co-founder of The Life You Can Save, an organization that aims to help those living in extreme poverty; and Animals Australia, that country’s largest and most effective animal organization. His many other books include Why Vegan?, The Life You Can Save, Writings on an Ethical Life, Rethinking Life and Death, and Practical Ethics. Since 1999, Singer has served as Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
US: Princeton University Press
Arabic: Dar Al-Rafidain
Australia/New Zealand: Text
Complex Chinese Characters: Locus
Simplified Chinese Characters: Guangxi Normal University Press
Farsi: Novin Ketabgooya
Italy: Il Saggiatore
Japan: Seifusha
Korea: Yeamoon Archive
Russia: Sindbad
Spain: Antoni Bosch Editor