Practical ethics
by Peter Singer · first published 1990
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible but substantive introduction to applied ethics, covering hard issues at length and prompting real changes in how its ideas are lived. Suited to readers wanting a serious philosophy primer.
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…Nice (but opinionated and now ~50y old) overview: Bertrand Russell's "History of Western Philosophy". Long but extremely readable. Not necessarily very reliable. Ethics specifically: Peter Singer's "Practical ethics". Note that Singer thinks that we (in the affluent West) should all be giving a lot more than most of us do to help less well-off people, and that non-human animals' welfare is much more important than…
on “Daniel Dennett: The Normal Well-Tempered Mind” ↗…era which had slavery, didn't treat women equal to man and killed homosexuals could possibly teach something unique. There are bunch of atheist ethics philosophers who talk about good and bad. I read Practical Ethics by Peter singer and even left eating mammalian meat after that. And I totally realize that person who wrote Bible could not have possibly thought about these eternal truths(which are always evolving)…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2013?” ↗I read practical ethics by Peter Singer in a time of my life when I was struggling to justify my way of life. It pushed me down a path that I still follow today. Gösta Berling's tale by Selma Lagerlöf was also very defining.…
on “Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?” ↗I recommend Peter Singer's "Practical Ethics" in this context. It is not exactly light reading, but discusses those issues at quite some length.
on “Is a Dolphin a Person?” ↗I highly recommend 'Practical Ethics' by 'Peter Singer'. You will start seeing how you can apply critical thinking to various moral questions in life without clinging to any religious book. If there are facts to learn about human happiness…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2013?” ↗Whenever it comes to philosophy, I always recommend Peter Singer -- just about anything by him is great. Consider Practical Ethics [1], or the recently-released-free The Life You Can Save 10th anniversary edition [2] [1] https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Ethics-Peter-Singer/dp/0521... [2] https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/the-book/
on “Ask HN: What are you learning?” ↗…mean? Start with introductory textbooks and then move on to SEP or directly to papers (which both your texts and SEP will reference.) You could start with this list [1] of resources. I'd like to add Practical Ethics by Peter Singer. https://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy/wiki/readinglist#wiki_mo...
on “Formal Models for Ethics” ↗I strongly recommend reading Peter Singer. His Practical Ethics [0] and other books are excellent. Primarily, I think it's important to very seriously think about our moral obligations to others, especially in today's interconnected world (where we not only can,…
on “Ask HN: Learning about philosophy” ↗Practical ethics by Peter Singer. It made me question a lot of my truths and habits and, in the end, made me more happy about how I live my life.
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗…vouch for them since I haven't read any of them myself Some philosophers whose works I've read and enjoyed: Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia; Derek Parfit's Reasons and Persons; Peter Singer's Practical Ethics; Graham Priest's In Contradiction; Graham Oppy's Arguing about Gods; Edward Feser's Five Proofs of the Existence of God – that's a rather eclectic and idiosyncratic list, including books by authors which…
on “American IQ Scores Have Rapidly Dropped, Proving the 'Reverse Flynn Effect'” ↗Peter Singer, mentioned in the article has a great (and influential) book published in 1979 called Practical Ethics, if you’re interested in this topic you should definitely check that out. If you’ve never listened to the Philosophy Bites podcast, here’s a relevant episode on the status of animals:https://philosophybites.libsyn.com/christine-korsgaard-on-th...…
on “Do Insects Feel Pain?” ↗…progress... Particularly, the points about group size and all th cultural clockwork required for and limiting our ability to function as large groups. Paul Graham's essays, which are kind of a web book. Practical Ethics, by Peter Singer influenced me a lot (made me study philosophy) but I was a lot less expensive impressed by my decades-later re-read.
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗Peter Singer[0] is one of the 3 editors. The editorial board, mostly moral philosophers, includes J.M. Coetzee, Jonathan Glover[1] and Jonathan Haidt[2]. [0] Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics et al. [1] Author of many books including Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century - one of the most outstanding, horrifying, memorable books I've ever read. [2] Author of The Happiness Hypothesis…
on “The Journal of Controversial Ideas” ↗Ugh, that's awful. Apologies, but I could not find any recommendations for killing babies. Please clarify. Practical Ethics 3rd ed [2011], Peter Singer https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=02C20FF721FBFC562268D14... Perhaps an earlier edition advocated infanticide? https://libgen.is/search.php?&req=singer+Practical+Ethics&ph...
on “Tyler Cowen Speaks to Peter Singer” ↗…form) "Utilitarianism and Vegetarianism" Peter Singer (General animal ethics, pro vegan, individual efficacy on welfare argument) "Equality for Animals?" Peter Singer (pro, utilitarian, excerpt from "Practical Ethics") "The Animal Liberation Movement" Peter Singer (pro, utilitarian, discussion of animal lib movement, animal equality, equal consideration of interests, and more!) "Do Animals Feel Pain?" by Peter Singer…
on “America’s First Meat-Free Fast-Food Restaurant Is Getting Ready to Expand” ↗