Singer's book will be about the practical applications of ethics, and this chapter is intended as a brief explanation of what ethics is and is not. In a first section, Singer explains four things that ethics is not. In the second section, he states his positive view. Ethics has practical consequences. Singer espouses consequentialism , which looks to goals and consequences.
Ethics is independent of religion.
The same argument goes to show that morality isn't simply subjective. My preference for chocolate and yours for vanilla do notconstitute an ethical disagreement. An amoral person rejects the moral point of view altogether, yet might happen to do what is right. One who cares very much about what's right is not amoral but may still be immoral . Or they may believe that they are behaving morally, though you think they are not.