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Title: Writings on an Ethical Life by Peter Singer ISBN: 0-06-000744-3 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.64 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting and Entertaining but Ultimately Unconvincing
Comment: The book is interesting and challenges one's ordinary intuitions about certain ethical issues. Some of the positions it advances are reasonable and are generally accepted by most people whose thinking isn't obscured by religious dogma. The problem with Singer's views, however, is that even if one accepts his general normative approach, utilitarnianism, and even if one accepts the extremely broad absolutist premises of his ethics, admittedly two big "if"s, the conclusions he argues for do not necessarily follow from those premises or lead to absurd results. For example, if one were to take seriously his premise that we ought to do whatever we can in our power to help those in dire need, no one could ethically spend a dime on anything other than "necessities" (which also raises a question about what constitutes a "necessity" versus a "luxury"). Singer's failure to observe the distinction between ethical duties and the supererogatory seems to me an objection in itself. Singer also fails to consider whether, if indeed buying only necessities is an ethical requirement, people can justly be held culpable for failing to do so, given their biological tendency to be self-interested. Finally, Singer fails to address the issue of what he means when he says a non-human animal can be "conscious" in the same way as a human can. Is he seriously suggesting that animals can think about themselves as themselves and as one and the same being existing in different times and places? When an animal feels pain, does he think "they are hurting ME"? Or does he think, "someone's being hurt, but is it ME"? What is going on in the rat's rat brain when he's being poked with a stick or a needle? Singer's seemingly absolutist stance on animal experimentation also smacks oddly of deontologism. Singer is not really clear on whether subjecting a pig, for instance, to what amounts (at least to the pig) to torture is nonetheless justified to ease human suffering. And how does one really "balance" pig suffering with human suffering anyway? On what ethical scale is that accomplished? Nonetheless, his position regarding euthanasia is well-argued, and the book is overall a though-provoking discussion that challenges our intuitions about moral behavior.
Rating: 5
Summary: A True Visionary
Comment: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the past when human slaves existed? Do you ever question whether you would have the knowledge or insight to realize that you were committing a moral injustice? Well, Professor Singer (he was my professor at Princeton University) is simply a man who has such a vision into the future and is able to understand the cruelties of this world and can explain why they are unjustifiable, regardless of popular opinion.
I don't dare to say that his ideas are popular; in fact, 50 mentally handicapped individuals chained themselves to the front gate of Princeton's campus in protest of his appointment. He is a man who argues for the legalization of infanticide, yet has the ability to understand that every American should send a portion of each paycheck to help ease the suffering of starvation in third world countries.
I recommend this book because I think Peter Singer can show us how to put an end to the "slave institutions" that we continue to use in this world. I guarantee you one thing; if you bring an open mind to this book, Peter Singer will change your outlook on life. Period.
Rating: 5
Summary: A true Visionary
Comment: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the past when human slaves existed? Do you ever question whether you would have the knowledge or insight to realize that you were committing a moral injustice? Well, Professor Singer (he was my professor at Princeton University) is simply a man who has such a vision into the future and is able to understand the cruelties of this world and can explain why they are unjustifiable, regardless of popular opinion.
I don't dare to say that his ideas are popular; in fact, 50 mentally handicapped individuals chained themselves to the front gate of Princeton's campus in protest of his appointment. He is a man who argues for the legalization of infanticide, yet has the ability to understand that every American should send a portion of each paycheck to help ease the suffering of starvation in third world countries.
I recommend this book because I think Peter Singer can show us how to put an end to the "slave institutions" that we continue to use in this world. I guarantee you one thing; if you bring an open mind to this book, Peter Singer will change your outlook on life. Period.
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Title: How Are We to Live?: Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest by Peter Singer ISBN: 0879759666 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: May, 1995 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Rethinking Life & Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics by Peter Singer ISBN: 0312144016 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: May, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: One World: The Ethics of Globalization by Peter Singer ISBN: 0300096860 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Animal Liberation by Peter Singer ISBN: 0060011572 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 18 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Practical Ethics by Peter Singer ISBN: 052143971X Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: February, 1993 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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