Applied Ethics

Oxford Readings in Philosophy

by Peter Singer (Editor), Thomas Nagel, Derek Parfit

This volume collects a wealth of articles covering a range of topics of practical concern in the field of ethics, including active and passive euthanasia, abortion, organ transplants, capital punishment, the consequences of human actions, slavery, overpopulation, the separate spheres of men and women, animal rights, and game theory and the nuclear arms race. The contributors are Thomas Nagel, David Hume, James Rachels, Judith Jarvis Thomson, Michael Tooley, John Harris, John Stuart Mill, Louis Pascal, Jonathan Glover, Derek Parfit, R.M. Hare, Janet Radcliffe Richards, Peter Singer, and Nicholas Measor.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

270 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Peter Singer is sometimes called "the world’s most influential living philosopher" although he thinks that if that is true, it doesn't say much for all the other living philosophers around today. He has also been called the father (or grandfather?) of the modern animal rights movement, even though he doesn't base his philosophical views on rights, either for humans or for animals.


In 2005 Time magazine named Singer one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute ranked him 3rd among Global Thought Leaders for 2013. (He has since slipped to 36th.) He is known especially for his work on the ethics of our treatment of animals, for his controversial critique of the sanctity of life doctrine in bioethics, and for his writings on the obligations of the affluent to aid those living in extreme poverty. 


Singer first became well-known internationally after the publication of Animal Liberation in 1975. In 2011 Time included Animal Liberation on its “All-TIME” list of the 100 best nonfiction books published in English since the magazine began, in 1923. Singer has written, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 50 books, including Practical Ethics; The Expanding Circle; How Are We to Live?, Rethinking Life and Death, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), The Point of View of the Universe (with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek), The Most Good You Can Do, Ethics in the Real World and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction. His works have appeared in more than 30 languages.

Singer’s book The Life You Can Save, first published in 2009, led him to found a non-profit organization of the same name. In 2019, Singer got back the rights to the book and granted them to the organization, enabling it to make the eBook and audiobook versions available free from its website, www.thelifeyoucansave.org.



Peter Singer was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1946, and educated at the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford. After teaching in England, the United States and Australia, he has, since 1999, been Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. He is married, with three daughters and four grandchildren. His recreations include hiking and surfing. In 2012 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, the nation’s highest civic honour.

Reviews

[Peiman E iran · Rating 4 out of 5]

‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، سالها پیش این کتاب را به صورت تکه تکه در نزدِ دوستی عزیز، به صورت مقاله هایی جالب توجه خواندم و لذت بردم. کتابی که از جملات و سخنانِ اندیشمندان و فلاسفهٔ نامی در موردِ <اخلاق کاربردی> تشکیل شده است... هدفم از نوشتنِ این ریویو این است که شما عزیزان با مفهوم <اخلاق کاربردی> بیشتر آشنا شوید
‎عزیزانم، هدفِ اصلیِ <اخلاق کاربردی> این است که نظرات و اندیشه های اخلاقی را به زندگی انسانها وارد کند تا به کمک آن بتوان راه حل هایی همگانی در نظر گرفت
‎در <اخلاق کاربردی> نگرورزی و رویکردهایی که بی چون و چرا و قاطع هستند و در جهتِ برطرف سازی مشکلاتِ خاص درست شده اند، جایگاهی ندارد. چراکه این نوع رویکردها را نمیتوان در هرجایی بکار برد و به اصطلاح جهانشمول نمیباشند... <اخلاق کاربردی> رامیتوان برای پرسش هایی اینچنینی بکار برد : آیا سقط جنین اخلاقی است و یا غیر اخلاقیست!؟ ... انسانها از چه حقوقی برخوردار هستند!؟ .... حیوانات از چه حقوقی برخوردارند!؟ ... وظیفهٔ ما در قبالِ طبیعت چیست!؟ ... وظیفهٔ ما در نگهداری از آثار باستانی چیست!؟ ... وظیفهٔ ما در قبالِ تاریخ و نیاکانِ سرزمینمان چیست!؟
‎و بسیاری دیگر از پرسش ها که مجال مطرح کردنشان در این ریویو وجود ندارد
‎البته انواع دیگری از <اخلاق کاربردی> نیز وجود دارد، مانند: اخلاق رسانه ای - اخلاق ورزشی - اخلاق پزشکی - اخلاق شهری - اخلاق حقوقی و غیره
‎درکل باید بگویم چنانچه پایِ <اخلاق کاربردی> به زندگی روزمرهٔ ما وارد شود، بدونِ تردید زندگی ما از این رو به آن رو شده و بسیاری از نگرانی هایِ ما برطرف شده و میتوانیم در آسایش و امنیت بیشتری زندگی کنیم. نه تنها برای ما انسانها، بلکه برای تمامی طبیعت و موجوداتِ زنده مفید و سودمند است
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‎امیدوارم این ریویو برای شما دوستانِ اخلاق گرا، مفید بوده باشه
‎<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>

[Mizrob A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 14 papers/book chapters that range from abortion and infanticide to population and animal ethics. Really enjoyed it. I love reading stuff on diverse matters, you come across very novel ideas and learn a lot (low hanging fruit). Derek Parfit’s “Overpopulation and Quality of Life” and James Rachels’ “Active and Passive Euthanasia” were my favorite papers from the collection.

From Rachels’ “Active and Passive Euthanasia":

'The doctrine that says a baby may be allowed to dehydrate and wither, but may not be given an injection that would end its life without suffering, seems so patently cruel as to require no further refutation. The strong language is not intended to offend, but only to put the point in the clearest possible way.'

[risko.tainas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as my first foray into ethics that goes beyond Wikipedia articles and drunken party discussions at 4 A.M.

Definitely some good stuff for rewiring your brain on an assortment of topics. There are a great deal of beliefs we take for granted and seem to consider self-evident, the book contains some very clever deconstructions of such delusions. Also, a few of the essays do a good job of highlighting how false reasoning is often brought about not only by different biases, but simply by incorrect use of language.

Most of the essays read very easy. Some, however, I couldn't chew through, such as the speech in favour of capital punishment or the games theory/nuclear arms race one. Will have to come back to those later on.

All in all a good one for people completely new to the subject, but I'd recommend familiarizing yourself with utilitarianism since it gets mentioned throughout the text quite a bit.

[Richard Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book, containing a collection of quite brilliant essays. The essays are all of a high standard - thought provoking, challenging and well written. Although they deal with profound issues, you do not need to be familiar with ethical concepts to benefit from the book. If you are interested in ethics, I think this is essential reading. One or two essays seem dated in terms of examples used and data referred to (particularly 8 and 14) - but even here once you get beyond the specific examples used the essays are still brilliant. Overall I particularly liked 4, 12 and 13 - two of which are topics I would not normally be deeply interested in. If you want to enjoy academic writing at its best, most practical and most accessible you would struggle to do better than this volume.