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Peter Singer

Peter Singer

Writing for PS since 2001
237 commentaries
1 videos & podcasts

Peter Singer, Founder of the nonprofit organization The Life You Can Save, is Emeritus Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), Rethinking Life and Death, The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, The Most Good You Can Do, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, One World Now, Ethics in the Real WorldWhy Vegan?, and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, also with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. In April 2021, W.W. Norton published his new edition of Apuleius’s The Golden Ass. In 2013, he was named the world's third "most influential contemporary thinker" by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. He is a co-author (with Shih Chao-Hwei) of The Buddhist and the Ethicist (Shambhala Publications, 2023).

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  1. Protesting Ethically
    singer235_DAVID CANTINIAUXAFPTVAFP via Getty Images_mona lisa DAVID CANTINIAUX/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images

    Protesting Ethically

    Sep 3, 2024 Peter Singer & Martin Skladany apply four tests of proportionality to nonviolent demonstrations in democratic societies.

  2. Will We Survive the Next 100 Years?
    singer234_Westend61_worldbreaking Westend61/Getty Images

    Will We Survive the Next 100 Years?

    Aug 7, 2024 Peter Singer urges governments to treat existential risks to our species with the seriousness they deserve.

  3. Will Biden Spoil It All?
    singer233_ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDSAFP via Getty Images_biden ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

    Will Biden Spoil It All?

    Jul 2, 2024 Peter Singer thinks the US president should step aside, or, like other one-time heroes, risk tarnishing his legacy.

  4. Organ Donation Can Save Donors’ Lives, Too
    singer232_Leon NealAFP via Getty Images_organdonation Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images

    Organ Donation Can Save Donors’ Lives, Too

    Jun 19, 2024 Peter Singer shows why a recipient of a new liver or kidney is not necessarily the only one who benefits.

  5. When Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic?
    singer231_Michael M. SantiagoGetty Images_college protests Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

    When Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic?

    May 9, 2024 Peter Singer rejects comparisons of the recent US campus protests to the actions of Nazi student groups in the 1930s.

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  1. castaneda89_ALFREDO ESTRELLAAFP via Getty Images_amlo sheinbaum ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images

    Can Claudia Sheinbaum Escape AMLO’s Shadow?

    Guillermo Ortiz asks whether Mexico’s new president will govern as a pragmatist or embrace her predecessor’s populism.
  2. op_reedlangen7_Jemal CountessGetty Images for Court Accountability_supreme court Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Court Accountability

    America’s Broken Constitution

    Nicholas Reed Langen

    For America to address the glaring flaws in its constitutional order, it will need to move to a system where judicial decisions are made not by “Democratic judges” or “Republican judges,” but just by judges. No other liberal democracy allows for such a corrosively politicized appointment process.

    sees the country’s politicized Supreme Court as the biggest obstacle to addressing many other problems.
  3. castaneda90_ FEDERICO PARRAAFP via Getty Images_venezuela FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images

    The Cuban Contingent Protecting Maduro

    Jorge G. Castañeda explains why the sham Venezuelan presidential election has not triggered a repeat of the 1958 military coup.
  4. posner26_Jaap ArriensNurPhoto via Getty Images_Google apple Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    Is Antitrust Enforcement Broken?

    Though antitrust enforcement has been gaining momentum on both sides of the Atlantic, a handful of private actors still wield extraordinary market power – and thus power over ordinary people’s lives. With some calling for more radical action, and others warning that reining in firms’ market power would be unhelpful and even harmful, we asked PS commentators what needs to be done.

  5. buberl1_ Nicolas EconomouNurPhoto via Getty Images_european commission Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    Europe and the Polycrisis

    Thomas Buberl argues that safeguarding the EU’s future demands a fundamental institutional transformation by 2045.
  6. rodrik227_Si WeiVCG via Getty Images_china solar panels Si Wei/VCG via Getty Images

    The Beggar-Thy-Neighbor Test

    Dani Rodrik explains how to steer international economic-policy debates toward what really matters.
  7. velasco152_Getty Images_economic paradign Getty Images

    Who Needs a New Economic Paradigm?

    Andrés Velasco asks what’s behind the ambition, on both the left and right, to promote a transformative vision of the field.
  8. rogoff254_Getty Images_inequality Getty Images

    Is Capitalism Really the Cause of Global Inequality?

    Kenneth Rogoff thinks greater economic openness is key to tackling cross-country disparities and achieving sustainability.
  9. pavlova2_andreswdGetty Images_EUsustainabilitymoney andreswd/Getty Images

    The Key That Unlocks Cleantech Financing in Europe

    Craig Douglas urges EU leaders to borrow against future Emissions Trading System revenues to finance higher investment now.

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