209 - Peter Singer: Controversial Ideas, Utilitarianism, and Animal Liberation

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCamp Professor Emeritus of Bioethics in the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is among the most influential living philosophers, and among the most influential moral philosophers of the last century. Peter is best known for his work in applied ethics on animal welfare and global poverty. In this episode, Robinson and Peter discuss these topics after first introducing his more general views on moral philosophy, including those on utilitarianism and meta-ethics. Throughout their conversation they also touch on Peter’s new podcast, Lives Well Lived, co-hosted with Kasia de Lazari Radek, the Journal of Controversial Ideas, Peter’s Substack, Bold Reasoning with Peter Singer, and his latest and next books, which are respectively The Buddhist and the Ethicist (Shambhala, 2023) and Consider the Turkey (Princeton, 2024).

Peter’s Website: https://www.petersinger.info

Lives Well Lived Podcast: https://shows.acast.com/6628460c6b51e80012b834c2

The Life You Can Save Organization: https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org.au

The Journal of Controversial Ideas: https://journalofcontroversialideas.org

Peter’s Substack: https://boldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com

The Buddhist and the Ethicist: https://a.co/d/38DOmbK

Consider the Turkey: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691231686/consider-the-turkey 

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

04:14 Peter Singer’s Entry into Philosophy

08:54 What Is Utilitarianism?

10:58 On Consequentialism vs Deontology

13:12 On Trolley Problems and Moral Facts

16:40 On Moral Realism and Anti-Realism

20:51 On Hedonistic Utilitarianism

26:17 The Lives Well Lived Podcast

33:43 A Puzzle About Trolley Problems

38:48 On the Origin of Peter Singer’s Concern for Animals

49:38 Is It Ever Morally Permissible to Eat Meat?

55:32 Consider the Turkey

1:03:07 Famine, Affluence, and Morality

1:09:08 The Life You Can Save

1:10:50 The Buddhist and the Ethicist

1:18:08 The Journal of Controversial Ideas

1:25:50 Peter’s Substack

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, and everyone in-between.