Peter Singer Quotes
Peter Singer is an Australian moral philosopher and the most widely read utilitarian writer of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His Animal Liberation became the founding manifesto of the modern animal rights movement, arguing that the capacity to suffer, not membership of a species, is the morally relevant fact. The quotes below are attributed to Peter Singer, organized by topic.
Browse Peter Singer by topic
Peter Singer on Freedom
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“To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed... It's had effects around the margins, of course, but they have mostly been minor. When I wrote it, I really thought the book would change the world. I know it sounds a little grand now, but at the time the sixties still existed for us. It looked as if real changes were possible, and I let myself believe that this would be one of them. All you have to do ”
Quoted by Michael Specter on the impact of the book Animal Liberation , " The Dangerous Philosopher ", The New Yorker , 6 September 1999.
Peter Singer on God
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“The evidence of our own eyes makes it more plausible to believe that the world was not created by any god at all. If, however, we insist on believing in divine creation, we are forced to admit that the god who made the world cannot be all-powerful and all good. He must be either evil or a bungler.”
The God of Suffering? Project Syndicate , 2008 -
“The God of Suffering? Project Syndicate , 2008”
The evidence of our own eyes makes it more plausible to believe that the world was not created by any god at all. If, however, we insist on believing in divine creation, we are forced to admit that the god who made the world cannot be all-powerful and all good. He must be either evil or a bungler. -
“I never believed in a God. [...] There may have been times when I wondered if there might be a God, but it always seemed to me wildly implausible that a God worth worshipping could allow the Holocaust to occur.”
From an interview, as cited by Dan Goldberg "Peter Singer: is he really the most dangerous man in the world?" , The Jewish Chronicle (24 November 2016)
Peter Singer on Happiness
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“Since ancient times, philosophers have maintained that to strive too hard for one's own happiness is self-defeating.”
The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress(1981) | Chapter 5, Reason And Genes, p. 145
Peter Singer on Justice
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“All animals are equal: the principle of equality requires that suffering be considered equally with the like suffering of any other being.”
Speciesism —the word is not an attractive one, but I can think of no better term—is a prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species. -
“Speciesism is a prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one's own species.”
Ch. 1: All Animals Are Equal -
“Speciesism is an attitude of prejudice towards beings because they're not members of our species, so just as racism means that you're prejudiced against beings who are not members of your race and sexism means you're prejudiced against people of the other sex. So we humans tend to be speciesist in we think that any being that is a member of the species homo sapien just automatically has a higher moral status and is more important than any being that is a member of any other species, irrespective of the actual characteristics of those beings.”
Peter Singer - The Genius of Darwin: The Uncut Interviews - Richard Dawkins , 2009. -
“the fact that no one has come up with a really convincing reason for giving greater moral weight to members of our own species, simply because they are members of our species, strongly suggests that there is no such reason. Like racism and sexism, speciesism is wrong.”
The Point of View of the Universe: Sidgwick and Contemporary Ethics(2017) | p. 343
Peter Singer on Knowledge
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“I am a utilitarian. I am also a vegetarian. I am a vegetarian because I am a utilitarian.”
Utilitarianism and Vegetarianism, Philosophy & Public Affairs , 9(4): 325 (1980). -
“Utilitarianism and Vegetarianism, Philosophy & Public Affairs , 9(4): 325 (1980).”
I am a utilitarian. I am also a vegetarian. I am a vegetarian because I am a utilitarian. -
“To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed... It's had effects around the margins, of course, but they have mostly been minor. When I wrote it, I really thought the book would change the world. I know it sounds a little grand now, but at the time the sixties still existed for us. It looked as if real changes were possible, and I let myself believe that this would be one of them. All you have to do is walk around the corner to McDonald's to see how successful I have been.”
Quoted by Michael Specter on the impact of the book Animal Liberation , " The Dangerous Philosopher ", The New Yorker , 6 September 1999. -
“Peter Singer - The Genius of Darwin: The Uncut Interviews - Richard Dawkins , 2009.”
Speciesism is an attitude of prejudice towards beings because they're not members of our species, so just as racism means that you're prejudiced against beings who are not members of your race and sexism means you're prejudiced against people of the other sex. So we humans tend to be speciesist in we think that any being that is a member of the species homo sapien just automatically has a higher m -
“Last Generation': A Response , The New York Times , June 16, 2010.”
Philosophy is not politics, and we do our best, within our all-too-human limitations, to seek the truth, not to score points against opponents. There is little satisfaction in gaining an easy triumph over a weak opponent while ignoring better arguments against your views. -
“Beginning to reason is like stepping onto an escalator that leads upward and out of sight. Once we take the first step, the distance to be traveled is independent of our will and we cannot know in advance where we shall end.”
The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress(1981) | Chapter 4, Reason, p. 88
Peter Singer on Mind
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“The capacity to reason is a special sort of capacity because it can lead us to places that we did not expect to go.”
The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress(1981) | Chapter 4, Reason, p. 88 -
“Speciesism —the word is not an attractive one, but I can think of no better term—is a prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species.”
Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for our Treatment of Animals(1975) | Ch. 1: All Animals Are Equal
Peter Singer on Nature
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Attributed to Peter Singer:
“The capacity for suffering and enjoyment is a prerequisite for having interests at all.”
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“Human social institutions can effect the course of human evolution. Just as climate -change, food supply, predators, and other natural forces of selection have molded our nature, so too can our culture.”
The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress(1981) | Chapter 6, A New Understanding Of Ethics, p. 172 -
“Human beings are social animals. We were social before we were human.”
The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress(1981) | Chapter 1, The Origins Of Altruism, p. 3 -
“The principles of ethics come from our own nature as social, reasoning beings.”
The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress(1981) | Chapter 6, A New Understanding Of Ethics, p. 149 -
“Animal Liberation is Human Liberation too.”
Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for our Treatment of Animals(1975) | Preface
Peter Singer on Politics
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“Philosophy is not politics, and we do our best, within our all-too-human limitations, to seek the truth, not to score points against opponents. There is little satisfaction in gaining an easy triumph over a weak opponent while ignoring better arguments against your views.”
Last Generation': A Response , The New York Times , June 16, 2010.
Peter Singer on Virtue
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“If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it.”
Famine, Affluence, and Morality -
Attributed to Peter Singer:
“An ethical life is one in which we identify ourselves with other, larger goals.”