Singer, Peter

Peter Singer speaking at MIT on March 14, 2009. While he is known for his work on animal welfare, and especially for his 1975 book Animal Liberation, he has explored many other applied ethical issues.

Photo credit: Wikipedia/Joel Travis Sage

Peter Albert David Singer (1946–) is an Australian philosopher. He is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and laureate professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE), University of Melbourne. He specializes in applied ethics, approaching ethical issues from a secular preference utilitarian perspective. He is one of the world's best-known (and controversial) philosophers.

One of the foundational issues for Singer is how to weigh the different interests of different beings (human and animal). His favored principle of equal consideration of ...