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Peter Singer Quotes
Peter Singer Quotes
Peter Singer
Australian
Philosopher
Born:
Jul 6
,
1946
Animals
Ethics
People
Think
World
You
Related authors:
Albert Camus
Aristotle
Confucius
Friedrich Nietzsche
Lao Tzu
Plato
Socrates
Sun Tzu
If you go back in time you'll find tribes that were essentially only concerned with their own tribal members. If you were a member of another tribe, you could be killed with impunity.
Peter Singer
Time
You
Tribal
Own
Back
Tribe
Tribes
Member
Members
Find
Only
Could
Concerned
Another
Go
Were
Essentially
Impunity
Even with censorship, the Internet is a force for change.
Peter Singer
Change
Censorship
Internet
Force
Even
Ancient recipients of instant news probably couldn't do very much about it, for instance. Xerxes would still need three months to get his army together, and he might not get home for years.
Peter Singer
Home
News
Together
Army
Three
Recipients
Months
Ancient
Would
About
Instance
He
Instant
Still
His
Years
Very
Get
Might
Much
Need
At the descriptive level, certainly, you would expect different cultures to develop different sorts of ethics and obviously they have; that doesn't mean that you can't think of overarching ethical principles you would want people to follow in all kinds of places.
Peter Singer
You
People
Ethics
Think
Would
Kinds
Follow
Develop
Obviously
Principles
Sort
Cultures
Expect
Different
Want
Places
Different Cultures
Mean
Ethical
Certainly
Descriptive
Level
Had Rumsfeld said at any time 'get me a report on what's going on', he could have had it. You're right, it depends on choices that we make, which parts of the world we want to be in immediate contact with.
Peter Singer
Time
Me
You
World
Immediate
Rumsfeld
Could
Had
He
Contact
Make
Parts
Said
Report
Get
Any
Going
Depends
Want
Which
Choices
Right
I think ethics is always there; it's not always a very thoughtful or reflective ethics.
Peter Singer
Ethics
Think
Thoughtful
Always
Very
Reflective
In a situation where many national leaders do the same thing and look out for national interests, and with an issue like global warming, you're likely to get no solution, so I think you have to have some kind of ethical trump on some of those issues.
Peter Singer
You
National
Situation
Same Thing
Think
Those
Out
Kind
Solution
Some
Leaders
Like
Global
Look
Likely
Global Warming
Issue
Issues
Trump
National Interests
Get
Same
Where
Warming
Ethical
Interests
Many
Thing
The idea that we can actually have an impact on places more or less instantly, too, by responding in some way or not responding, I think, also makes it true.
Peter Singer
Think
Too
Way
Responding
Impact
Some
More
More Or Less
Instantly
True
Idea
Also
Makes
Places
Less
Actually
Then I think the sense of it being one community breaks down; but if you know instantly and respond within twenty-four hours, it's a very different sort of situation.
Peter Singer
You
Situation
Sense
Community
Down
Think
Respond
Instantly
Hours
Know
Sort
Within
Very
Being
Different
Breaks
Then
Twenty-Four
They tend to be pretty abstract ones then, like doing what will have the best consequences; obviously you wouldn't specify what consequences are best, they may be different in some circumstances, so at a lower, more specific level, you may well get differences.
Peter Singer
Best
You
Will
Differences
Consequences
Circumstances
Be Different
Some
Pretty
More
Tend
Abstract
Like
Obviously
Well
Doing
Get
May
Different
Then
Lower
Specific
Specify
Level
What you could say, and what I do argue in the book, is that he doesn't have as much concern for the lives of Iraqis as he does for the lives of Americans, or even frozen American embryos.
Peter Singer
You
Book
Say
Embryos
Could
Argue
He
Concern
Does
Iraqis
American
Frozen
Much
Even
Lives
If we can put a man on the moon and sequence the human genome, we should be able to devise something close to a universal digital public library.
Peter Singer
Library
Man
Digital
Moon
Able
Something
Put
Devise
Genome
Close
Human
Public
Should
Public Library
Sequence
Universal
I don't understand the notion that modern farming is anything do to with nature. It's a pretty gross interference with nature.
Peter Singer
Nature
Pretty
Understand
Modern
Anything
Interference
Notion
Gross
Farming
We should aim for our children to be good people, and to live ethical lives that manifest concern for others as well as for themselves.
Peter Singer
Good
People
Good People
Live
Others
Aim
Our
Concern
Well
Children
Manifest
Themselves
Ethical
Should
Lives
If we all think only of our own interests, we are headed for collective disaster - just look at what we are doing to our planet's climate.
Peter Singer
Collective
Own
Think
Our
Only
Headed
Disaster
Look
Climate
Doing
Just
Planet
Interests
We need to learn how to capture and kill wild fish humanely - or, if that is not possible, to find less cruel and more sustainable alternatives to eating them.
Peter Singer
Wild
Possible
Find
Eating
More
Cruel
Learn
Alternatives
How
Fish
Sustainable
Them
Less
Capture
Need
Knowledge is generally considered a good thing; so, presumably, knowing more about how the U.S. thinks and operates around the world is also good.
Peter Singer
Good
Knowledge
World
Considered
Presumably
About
More
Good Thing
Generally
Also
Knowing
Around
How
Thing
Thinks
The belief that the animals exist because God created them - and that he created them so we can better meet our needs - is contrary to our scientific understanding of evolution and, of course, to the fossil record, which shows the existence of non-human primates and other animals millions of years before there were any human beings at all.
Peter Singer
God
Needs
Better
Animals
Understanding
Before
Other
Meet
Our
Evolution
Record
He
Course
Because
Scientific
Were
Years
Exist
Existence
Contrary
Any
Human
Human Beings
Which
Them
Created
Fossil
Beings
Shows
Belief
Millions
Millions Of Years
Well the real concept of basic needs if you cut it right down are simply the physical needs that are unavoidable for all of us. So to have enough calories to keep our bodies going. Have shelter from extreme elements. To have water that is safe to drink, So I think that's the core of it.
Peter Singer
Needs
You
Basic Needs
Water
Down
Think
Enough
Our
Extreme
Unavoidable
Physical
Drink
Simply
Concept
Safe
Well
Calories
Shelter
Real
Going
Cut
Us
Bodies
Keep
Elements
Right
Basic
Core
Privacy about giving is counterproductive. There is solid scientific research showing that people are more likely to give if they can see that others are giving. The richest people, in particular, should be setting an example.
Peter Singer
Privacy
People
Example
Giving
Research
Setting
Others
Solid
See
About
Give
More
Counterproductive
Particular
Likely
Scientific
Scientific Research
Should
Richest
Richest People
Showing
We may feel the pain of falling back from a level of affluence to which we have grown accustomed, but most people in developed countries are still, by historical standards, extraordinarily well off.
Peter Singer
People
Pain
Extraordinarily
Back
Developed
Developed Countries
Feel
Countries
Most
Well
Still
Falling
Off
Historical
Affluence
Accustomed
May
Which
Standards
Grown
Level
We need to recognise that what really matters isn't buying more and more consumer goods, but family, friends, and knowing that we are doing something worthwhile with our lives. Helping to reduce the appalling consequences of world poverty should be part of that reassessment.
Peter Singer
Family
World
Poverty
Matters
Consequences
Our
Our Lives
Recognise
Worthwhile
Something
More
More And More
Consumer
Part
Goods
Knowing
Reduce
Doing
Friends
Really
Should
Appalling
Helping
Lives
Buying
Need
It's because I work in ethics, and, more specifically, applied ethics, that I think it's important that if you have things to say that you think are right and you think could make the world a better place, it's important that many people read about them.
Peter Singer
Work
You
People
World
Better
Ethics
Important
Think
Say
About
More
Could
Better Place
Make
Read
Because
Place
Them
Many
Specifically
Right
Things
Applied
I don't eat meat. I've been a vegetarian since 1971. I've gradually become increasingly vegan. I am largely vegan, but I'm a flexible vegan. I don't go to the supermarket and buy non-vegan stuff for myself. But when I'm traveling or going to other people's places, I will be quite happy to eat vegetarian rather than vegan.
Peter Singer
Buy
Myself
Happy
People
Will
Vegan
Become
Other
Increasingly
Eat
Rather
Supermarket
Vegetarian
Stuff
Since
Am
Go
Been
Than
Gradually
Going
Quite
Places
Flexible
Meat
Traveling
Largely
When you look at food as an ethical issue in the Christian tradition, you don't find very much about it. You don't find, as you do in the Jewish or Islamic or Hindu traditions, a lot of restrictions saying you can eat this but you can't eat that.
Peter Singer
Saying
Food
You
Christian
Find
Eat
About
Restrictions
Look
Islamic
Hindu
Issue
Tradition
Traditions
Lot
Very
Ethical
Much
Christian Tradition
Jewish
Some vegetarians and vegans may object to in vitro meat, because they don't see the need for meat at all. That's fine for them, and of course they are free to remain vegetarians and vegans and choose not to eat in vitro meat.
Peter Singer
Free
Fine
See
Eat
Some
Object
Vitro
Remain
Course
Because
May
Them
Choose
Meat
Need
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