Peter Singer
Australian moral philosopher, Professor of Bioethics emeritus at Princeton University; author of Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics and The Life You Can Save.
Peter Singer did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Our reading
People in wealthy countries can save lives every day by giving to cost-effective charities
Their wordsThe fact is, we are walking past ponds all the time, because through simple, cost-effective interventions such as the distribution of anti-malaria bednets or supplements in low income countries, all of us living in developed nations have the ability to give money to charities saving lives every day.
- 5 weeks earlier
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Their wordsHigher education is valuable, but this allocation is difficult to justify if our aim is to direct limited resources where they can do the most good.
↗9 in 10 Children in the World’s Poorest Countries Cannot Read This Sentenceboldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsBut the evidence does not support the idea that technology alone will solve the learning crisis.
↗9 in 10 Children in the World’s Poorest Countries Cannot Read This Sentenceboldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsNine in ten children in the world's poorest countries reaching age ten unable to read a simple sentence is not an inevitable consequence of poverty.
↗9 in 10 Children in the World’s Poorest Countries Cannot Read This Sentenceboldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 2 weeks earlier
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Their wordsBut today, of course, we often know as much about the needs created by a drought or flood on the other side of the world as we do about the needs of those in our own region.
↗Can a libertarian be an effective altruist?boldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsBut libertarianism has nothing to say against voluntary altruism, and every reason to think that it is good for that altruism to be as effective as possible. Hence there is no barrier to a libertarian supporting, and practising, Effective Altruism.
↗Can a libertarian be an effective altruist?boldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 2 weeks earlier
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Their wordsWhy should the amount of profit a company generates be the mark of its success, while what ultimately happens to that profit is treated as a private question for its owners?
↗Profit for Good: Towards a Better Capitalismboldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsCapitalism does increase inequality, and parts of the global economy cause serious harm. At the same time, capitalism has also lifted hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty, and those who advocate replacing the entire modern capitalist economy have not found an alternative that clearly produces better outcomes at comparable scale.
↗Profit for Good: Towards a Better Capitalismboldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsWhy does giving away 10% of a successful company's profits strike many people as unusually generous, perhaps even radical, while choosing to pay virtually 100% of profits to owners and shareholders is regarded as the natural state of affairs? Because it is a norm. And norms can change.
↗Profit for Good: Towards a Better Capitalismboldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 4 weeks earlier
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Their wordsBut it recognizes that calling an intelligent, self-aware, emotionally complex being "property" does not answer the question of whether that being has an interest in freedom.
↗“KEY OUT”: When a Chimpanzee Asks to Be Freeboldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com
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Their wordsIf it is in your power to prevent something bad from happening, without sacrificing anything nearly as important, it is wrong not to do so.
↗The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty (Random House, 2009)archive.org All 3 from this book
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Their wordsTherefore, if you do not donate to aid agencies, you are doing something wrong.
↗The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty (Random House, 2009)archive.org All 3 from this book
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Their wordsI should say up front that I believe you should be giving more than 5 percent
↗The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty (Random House, 2009)archive.org All 3 from this book
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Their wordsIf a being suffers there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration.
↗Animal Liberation (A New York Review Book, 1975)archive.org All 8 from this book
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Their wordsThe racist violates the principle of equality by giving greater weight to the interests of members of his own race when there is a clash between their interests and the interests of those of another race.
↗Animal Liberation (A New York Review Book, 1975)archive.org All 8 from this book
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Their wordsThis book is about the tyranny of human over nonhuman animals.
↗Animal Liberation (A New York Review Book, 1975)archive.org All 8 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsVegetarianism is a form of boycott.
↗Animal Liberation (A New York Review Book, 1975)archive.org All 8 from this book
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Their wordsSpeciesism—the word is not an attractive one, but I can think of no better term—is a prejudice or attitude of bias toward the interests of members of one’s own species and against those of members of other species
↗Animal Liberation (A New York Review Book, 1975)archive.org All 8 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsWe should not wear furs.
↗Animal Liberation (A New York Review Book, 1975)archive.org All 8 from this book
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Their wordsI argue that there can be no reason—except the selfish desire to preserve the privileges of the exploiting group—for refusing to extend the basic principle of equality of consideration to members of other species.
↗Animal Liberation (A New York Review Book, 1975)archive.org All 8 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsMost human beings are speciesists.
↗Animal Liberation (A New York Review Book, 1975)archive.org All 8 from this book