Peter Singer's Early Ethical Views

At the start of his career, Peter Singer adopted a sophisticated but unconventional stance on ethics as an emotivist hedonistic utilitarian, reflecting both normative and meta-ethical dimensions. His normative ethical position emphasized the maximization of pleasure and minimization of pain for the greatest number, rooted in hedonism. Simultaneously, his meta-ethical view suggested that moral statements merely express emotional states rather than objective truths, indicating a belief that moral claims do not point to universal moral facts. This duality of perspectives positioned Singer uniquely within the early discourse on morality, as he grappled with the implications of his emotions in ethical discussions.