Peter Albert David Singer Quotes

• I would like us to think about it more explicitly, and not take our intuitions as the given of ethics, but rather to reflect on it, and be more open about the fact that something is an ethical issues and think what we ought to do about it.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Ought, Ethical, Explicitly, Intuitions, Reflect

• In the sense that you’re not at the centre of power, like a president or prime minister of a major power, everyone is marginalised; my position doesn’t isn’t unique in that respect. I think there are different sorts of relevance in different contexts.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Position, President, Relevance, Prime, Centre Contexts, Marginalised, Unique

• The Pentagon said that these prisoners were kept in accordance with the Geneva Convention, and of course I was not reassured by that, but I couldn’t prove that that was wrong; so we’re clearer about that.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Geneva, Reassured, Pentagon, Reassuring, Convention, Ratified, Prisoners

• Ancient recipients of instant news probably couldn’t do very much about it, for instance. Xerxes would still need three months to get his army together, and he might not get home for years.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Instant, Ancient, Recipients, Army

• I think ethics is always there; it’s not always a very thoughtful or reflective ethics.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Ethics, Reflective, Thoughtful

• It means that, in fact, it’s – whether fascist is the right word I don’t know – more of a plutocracy than anything resembling a democracy; it has become a nation controlled by a very small, very wealthy elite.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Democracy

  Tags in Controlled, Wealthy, Elite, Fascists, Resembling, Word

• More often there’s a compromise between ethics and expediency.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Compromise

  Tags in Ethics, Expediency

• An animal experiment cannot be justifiable unless the experiment is so important that the use of a brain-damaged human would be justifiable.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Tags in Animal Experimentation, Outragous

• As we realize that more and more things have global impact, I think we’re going to get people increasingly wanting to get away from a purely national interest.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Tags in Increasingly, Global, Impact, Purely

• Bush doesn’t present himself as a realpolitik politician.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Politics

  Tags in Realpolitik, Politician

• I don’t think there’s anything in the compromise that means that there’s a clash of ethics.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Compromise

  Tags in Clash, Ethics

• I suppose what’s happened recently has confirmed suspicions I voiced in the book, and I think made clearer some of those things that I point out. For instance I have a section of the book where I talk about the possibility of torture.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Tags in Recently, Instance, Clearer, Section, Suspicions, Voiced, Torture, Suppose

• My work is based on the assumption that clarity and consistency in our moral thinking is likely, in the long run, to lead us to hold better views on ethical issues.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Tags in Clarity, Consistency, Global Warming, Assumption

• The idea that we can actually have an impact on places more or less instantly, too, by responding in some way or not responding, I think, also makes it true.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Tags in Instantly, Impact, Not Responding

• We see things like reciprocity which are fairly central to our view of ethics. But if you’re talking about a set of worked-out rules on what we are supposed to do then, yes, it is a human product.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Tags in Ethics, Fairly, Reciprocity

• All the arguments to prove man’s superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering the animals are our equals.

  Peter Albert David Singer

  Topics in Suffering

  Tags in Compassion

Peter Albert David Singer (76)

Birth:	6th July, 1946
Nationality:	Australian
Profession:	Philosopher, Professor

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