MetaFilter posts tagged with petersinger

Why We Must Ration Health Care

grouse — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:16:03 -0800

Why We Must Ration Health Care by Peter Singer.

Why is Cornell West being interviewed in a cab?

cal71 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:57:42 -0800

"Courage is the ennabling virtue for any philosopher," says Cornel West in this clip from The Examined Life, a film by Astra Taylor. Peter Singer talks about the morality of consumption and how we should spend our money, as he did in this NY Times Magazine essay published two years ago today. Given the internecine violence in the Congo, for example, Singer's 1971 essay, Famine, Affluence, and Morality is worth a second (or first) look. The film features several other contemporary philosophers, including Judith Butler, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Slavoj Zizek. Of course, people looking for a more musical version of philosophy, could forgo the film and just watch this Monty Python bit.

The most influential philosopher alive?

e-man — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:31:28 -0800

"Same-sex marriage? Euthanasia? Child's play issues in the avant-garde philosophy of Peter Singer" (Singer has been the subject of previous MeFi discussions). Having only skimmed those earlier threads, I don't know enough about Singer to usefully comment about the accuracy of World Magazine's interpretation of his views. What I found interesting was the tone of the article. The writer appears at times to bend over backwards to show that, while he thinks Singer's ideas are reprehensible, Singer himself seems like an OK guy (eg. "He approves of polyamory in the abstract but in his own life, to his credit, he has been married for 35 years to one woman"). Is World Magazine (mission: "To report, interpret, and illustrate the news ... from a perspective committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God") trying to present a balanced portrait of Singer and his views? Or is he being portrayed as a wolf in sheep's clothing? (original link courtesy of Arts & Letters Daily)

Mixed feelings

tss — Sat, 15 Feb 2003 12:15:45 -0800

Unspeakable conversations (NYTimes) (printer friendly). Controversial ethicist Peter Singer (previously mentioned 1, 2, 3, 4) advocates the euthanasia of severely disabled infants. In the referenced article from the NYT magazine, attorney and disability rights advocate Harriet McBride Johnson describes a genteel encounter and debate with a man who may have had her killed. Aside from confronting the central issue (as we surely shall!), Ms. Johnson also describes the difficult balance between her impressions of Prof. Singer the man, her loathing of his ideas, and the enmity toward both from her colleagues at Not Dead Yet. Have you ever tried to reconcile feelings so charged?

Sean Meade — Mon, 02 Apr 2001 06:52:40 -0800

In the end, what is the ethical distinction between a Brazilian who sells a homeless child to organ peddlers and an American who already has a TV and upgrades to a better one — knowing that the money could be donated to an organization that would use it to save the lives of kids in need?

Does Peter Singer have the solution to world poverty?

raysmj — Fri, 30 Mar 2001 20:26:00 -0800

Dolphin boy speaks Anyone remember the Peter Singer review of a book about bestiality linked here a month or so ago? The book is also reviewed at amazon by none other than the Dolphin Boy whose dolphin zoophilia or whatever site was discussed yesterday.

holgate — Mon, 26 Mar 2001 11:05:12 -0800

Want to avoid sweatshop shoes? Buy Nike. So says Peter Singer. Same applies to the other favourite targets of the "No Logo" activists. Which raises a curious irony: what happens when a corporation you've habitually demonised starts listening to to its critics? Is it possible to rehabilitate a Big Bad Brand?

pracowity — Sat, 03 Mar 2001 06:01:06 -0800

Heavy Petting - Peter Singer (bioethics professor, animal rights guru, frequently admired or hated Australian philosopher) discusses bestiality, which is probably much more popular than you imagine: "In the 1940s, Kinsey asked twenty thousand Americans about their sexual behavior, and found that 8 percent of males and 3.5 percent of females stated that they had, at some time, had a sexual encounter with an animal. Among men living in rural areas, the figure shot up to 50 percent. "