More often there's a compromise between ethics and expediency. Peter Singer More Quotes by Peter Singer More Quotes From Peter Singer The belief that the animals exist because God created them - and that he created them so we can better meet our needs - is contrary to our scientific understanding of evolution and, of course, to the fossil record, which shows the existence of non-human primates and other animals millions of years before there were any human beings at all. Peter Singer understandinganimalyears But I think the majority of cows, and even more so chickens and pigs, are leading pretty miserable lives. Peter Singer majoritypigsthinking Business ethics has always had problems that are distinct from those of other professions, such as medicine, law, engineering, dentistry, or nursing. Peter Singer engineeringnursinglaw Scholars have long dreamed of a universal library containing everything that has ever been written. Peter Singer libraryscholarlong At the descriptive level, certainly, you would expect different cultures to develop different sorts of ethics and obviously they have; that doesn't mean that you can't think of overarching ethical principles you would want people to follow in all kinds of places. Peter Singer ethical-principlesmeanthinking I am not saying that factory farming is the same as the Holocaust or the slave trade, but it's clear that there is an immense amount of suffering in it, and just as we think that the Nazis were wrong to ignore the suffering of their victims, so we are wrong to ignore the sufferings of our victims. Peter Singer holocaustsufferingthinking We have a new generation of very rich people who want to do more with their money than buy a lot of expensive toys. They want to live meaningful lives. Peter Singer generationsmeaningfulpeople I don't think nationalism is alone holding the field; it's in contention with a lot of different things. Peter Singer differentfieldsthinking I don't think there's anything in the compromise that means that there's a clash of ethics. Peter Singer ethicsmeanthinking I'm a Utilitarian, so I don't see the rule against lying as absolute; it's always subject to some overriding utility which may prevent its exercise. Peter Singer workoutexerciselying If you're buying animal products and can go to the farm and actually see how the animals are looked after, yes, that's an important point. That's definitely the best way of assuring yourself that the animals are being well treated. Peter Singer importantanimalway Should one break in and free the animals? That is illegal, but the obligation to obey the law is not absolute. It was justifiably broken by those who helped runaway slaves in the American South, to mention only one possible parallel. Peter Singer brokenlawanimal It may be thought justifiable to require tests on animals of potentially life-saving drugs, but the same kinds of tests are used for products like cosmetics, food coloring, and floor polishes. Should thousands of animals suffer so that a new kind of lipstick or floor wax can be put on the market? Don't we already have an excess of most of these products? Who benefits from their introduction, except the companies that hope to profit from them? Peter Singer drugsufferinganimal ...the proposed air force and army experiments were designed so that many animals would suffer and die without any certainty that this suffering and death would save a single human life or benefit humans in any way at all; but the same can be said of millions of their experiments performed each year in the United States alone. Peter Singer armyanimalyears Well the real concept of basic needs if you cut it right down are simply the physical needs that are unavoidable for all of us. So to have enough calories to keep our bodies going. Have shelter from extreme elements. To have water that is safe to drink, So I think that's the core of it. Peter Singer cuttingrealthinking Suppose I grant that pigs and dogs are self-aware to some degree, and do have thoughts about things in the future. That would provide some reason for thinking it intrinsically wrong to kill them - not absolutely wrong, but perhaps quite a serious wrong. Still, there are other animals - chickens maybe, or fish - who can feel pain but don't have any self-awareness or capacity for thinking about the future. For those animals, you haven't given me any reason why painless killing would be wrong, if other animals take their place and lead an equally good life. Peter Singer good-lifepaindog 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 Singer ethicsviewstalking The statement "I am in pain" may be one piece of evidence for the conclusion that the speaker is in pain, but it is not the only possible evidence, and since people sometimes tell lies, not even the best possible evidence. Even if there were stronger grounds for refusing to attribute pain to those who do not have language, the consequences of this refusal might lead us to reject the conclusion. Human infants and young children are unable to use language. Are we to deny that a year-old child can suffer? Peter Singer painlyingchildren What you could say, and what I do argue in the book, is that he doesn't have as much concern for the lives of Iraqis as he does for the lives of Americans, or even frozen American embryos. Peter Singer frozendoebook Without in any way minimising the economic and psychological blow that people experience when they lose their jobs, the unemployed in affluent countries still have a safety net, in the form of social security payments, and usually free healthcare and free education for their children. They also have sanitation and safe drinking water. Peter Singer jobscountrychildren
