#19 – Peter Singer on Speciesism, Lockdown Ethics, and Controversial Ideas

Dec 7, 2020

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Peter Singer is a moral philosopher and public intellectual, most widely known for his writings about animal ethics and global poverty.

In this episode we discuss:

[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:01:43] Background — Peter Singer introduces himself.
[00:02:16] Speciesism — Defining the term, and explaining the case against speciesism.
[00:06:55] Wild Animal Suffering — hould we intervene to reduce suffering in nature?
[00:09:00] Weighing and Ending Animal Lives — Are all animal lives equal? What, if anything, is wrong with (painlessly) killing animals?
[00:13:20] Ignoring Animals: Why did thinkers of the past apparently neglect the moral worth of animals? Why is animal ethics relatively new?
[00:16:50] History of Western Attitudes to Animals—Can we trace the origins of contemporary attitudes to animals back to ancient Greece and Judeo-Christian values?
[00:21:07] Counterfactual Impact of Animal Advocacy
[00:24:10] The Power of Moral Argument
[00:25:00] The Schwitzgebel Study
[00:29:30] What should we do now? — Are veganism and vegetarianism all-or-nothing decisions? Or is it worth choosing a more incremental pathway?
[00:32:25] The case for Human Challenge Trials
[00:35:46] Trade-off between Lives and Well-being in Lockdowns — Can the cure for the pandemic be worse than the disease? How would we know?
[00:42:07] Moral Realism — Parfit's 'Future Tuesday Indifference'
[00:46:10] Other Moral Systems — What about egalitarianism or prioritarianism?
[00:49:10] Controversial ideas
[00:52:28] Journal of Controversial Ideas
[00:54:35] What have you changed your mind about?
[00:55:57] Book Recommendations
[00:57:18] Where to Find PS Online

You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/peter.

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