num_pages: 336
description: Peter Singer is often described as the worlds 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 Singers 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 challengeand possibly changeyour beliefs about a wide range of real-world ethical questions.
language: English
title: Ethics in the Real World: 86 Brief Essays on Things that Matter
publisher: Text Publishing