Hear This Idea - 18. Luke Freeman on Giving What We Can and Community Building

Dec 7, 2020

19. Peter Singer on Speciesism, Lockdown Ethics, and Controversial Ideas

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. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future guests, please get in touch through our website. Please also consider leaving us a review wherever you're listening to this. If you want to support the show more directly and help us keep hosting these episodes online, consider leaving a tip at www.tips.pinecast.com/jar/hear-this-idea. Thanks for listening!

59 min