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Peter Singer

Peter Singer

Writing for PS since 2001
232 commentaries
1 videos & podcasts

Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, is Founder of the nonprofit organization The Life You Can Save. 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. Will Cambridge Support Free Speech?
    singer230_View PicturesPeter CookUniversal Images Group via Getty Images_cambridge View Pictures/Peter Cook/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Will Cambridge Support Free Speech?

    Apr 12, 2024 Peter Singer examines the university’s ongoing case against Nathan Cofnas, a research fellow who advocates “race realism.”

  2. Does Religious Freedom Trump Animal Welfare?
    singer229_ Mustafa YalcinAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_echr Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    Does Religious Freedom Trump Animal Welfare?

    Mar 14, 2024 Peter Singer assesses the European Court of Human Rights’ recent ruling on Belgian legislation regarding how meat may be produced.

  3. The Competitive Edge of Doing Good
    singer228_ humanitix

    The Competitive Edge of Doing Good

    Feb 8, 2024 Peter Singer explains why companies that donate 100% of their profits to effective charities often end up doing very well.

  4. Killing Innocents in Israel and Gaza
    singer227_MOHAMMED ABEDAFP via Getty Images_gaza Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

    Killing Innocents in Israel and Gaza

    Jan 5, 2024 Peter Singer says that while Israelis' desire for revenge for October 7 is not wrong, choosing to act on it is.

  5. A Bargain in Saving Lives
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    A Bargain in Saving Lives

    Dec 11, 2023 Peter Singer urges the swift approval and rapid production of a new, low-cost malaria vaccine that can save millions of lives.

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  1. palacio156_ Georg Moritzpicture alliance via Getty Images_immigation Georg Moritz/picture alliance via Getty Images

    Why the EU’s New Migration Pact Matters

    Ana Palacio applauds the pragmatic coalition-building, especially by Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, that enabled the deal.
  2. kirchschlager1_Fatih AktasAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_AI Fatih AktasAnadolu Agency via Getty Images

    AI Needs UN Oversight

    Peter G. Kirchschläger calls for the creation of a watchdog – similar to the IAEA – that employs a human rights-based approach.
  3. chellaney_VCGVCG via Getty Images_china military VCG/VCG via Getty Images

    The West Is Hastening Its Own Decline

    Brahma Chellaney argues that the unprecedented US and European sanctions against Russia are backfiring.
  4. zizek29_Sebastian Gollnowpicture alliance via Getty Images_palestine congress germany Sebastian Gollnowpicture alliance via Getty Images

    Canceling Palestine

    Slavoj Žižek

    Current debates about Israeli policy are rife with double standards, leading to absurd decisions like Germany’s recent cancellation of a pro-Palestinian gathering. By quashing legitimate speech and assembly, an Israel-aligned establishment risks inciting precisely the kind of anti-Semitism that it wants to prevent.

    worries that the double standards applied on Israel’s behalf will lead to an anti-Semitic backlash.
  5. ackerman2_Brian van der Brug  Los Angeles Times via Getty Images_preschool Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    America’s Childcare Is Unfit for the Postmodern Age

    Bruce Ackerman urges US President Joe Biden to put universal preschool at the center of his re-election campaign.
  6. acemoglu72_ Hulton ArchiveGetty Images_cottonhandweaving Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    History Already Tells Us the Future of AI

    Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson find policy lessons for the 2020s in the work of the early-nineteenth-century economist David Ricardo.
  7. silber3_William Thomas CainGetty Images_trumpplazahotel William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

    Trump and the Risk of a US Debt Default

    William L. Silber thinks the former president would be even more reckless if awarded another term this year.
  8. lboone2_Celestino ArceNurPhoto via Getty Images_ukraine Celestino Arce/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    Europe’s Red Tape Is Helping Russia

    Laurence Boone & Nicu Popescu propose a European Defense Production Act to help fast-track processes for public procurement and spending.
  9. posner31_Spencer PlattGetty Images_trumptrial Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    What to Look for in Trump’s First Trial

    Eric Posner

    The intricate legal issues and colorful characters in Donald Trump's criminal trials will undoubtedly keep the media and the viewing public enraptured for months to come. But when it comes to the 2024 election, all that really matters is how the defendant appears to a narrow sliver of undecided voters.

    points out that optics, more than the law or the facts, will be what matters most for the election.

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