I feel privileged to have known the remarkable scholar Peter Singer as a friend and colleague for over a decade. We first met, I believe, in the context of atheism, but our discussions were much broader and its impact on my own thinking was substantial. He and I started a public dialogue in Arizona eight or nine years ago, and preparing for that debate changed my worldview in many ways. Peter actually had an impact on my life long before that, like when my daughter was very young. The late Katharine Thalberg, who ran the famous Explore bookstore in Aspen, where I often did book signings, and who, with her husband Bill Stirling, launched an unsuccessful campaign to ban furs in Aspen, saw how my seven-year-old girl loved him. dogs, and she gave Lilli a copy of Singer's 1975 book, Animal Liberation, to read when she was older. I don't know if Lilli ever read it, but she became a vegetarian long before me.
Peter, perhaps more than anyone, was an effective advocate for the cause of animal welfare, coining the term "speciesism" to describe the fact that good ethics should include equal consideration of the welfare of not only all men, but of all creatures. . He supported his position with an in-depth discussion of the disgusting way in which animals are subjected to suffering in the context of industrial-scale food preparation for humans. This includes not only cattle, pigs and chickens, but also fish. Whether or not we continue to choose to eat meat, we should all at least be aware of what we are committing to by doing so.
This year, Peter updated Animal Liberation to be called Animal Liberation Now, to record developments that have taken place in the nearly 50 years since the book was first published. His arguments remain as dramatic and clear as they were then, and what I particularly appreciate about Peter is the way he combines the philosopher's tools of analytical logic with the tools of evidence gathering of a scientist. The end result is a compelling treatise, and I was delighted that Peter agreed to sit down for an in-depth discussion of the ideas in his book.
We took this opportunity to talk about Peter's interest in effective altruism, about which he has also written extensively. It is an effort to do the most good in the world by empirically examining what types of charities do the most good to the most people, and also exploring how much of one's own resources one can easily separate itself in the process without substantially altering its own resources. way of life. Again, his discussions can change the way you think and act.
I hope you enjoy our in-depth dialogue, to which he generously devoted a lot of time, as much as I do. And I hope it provokes the same kind of personal reflections in you that it did in me.
—————
Consider supporting the podcast and the Origins Project Foundation at https://www.originsproject.org/
The Origins Podcast, a production of The Origins Project Foundation, features in-depth conversations with some of the world's most interesting people about the issues that affect us all in the 21st century. Host, theoretical physicist, speaker and author Lawrence M. Krauss will be joined by guests from a wide range of fields, including science, arts and journalism. The topics covered on The Origins Podcast reflect the full range of the human experience: exploring science and culture in a way that seeks to entertain, educate, and inspire.
Full Episodes Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?vqXLv1PHLilU&listPL5R87nA_A7ijBql86ZL1_PAM8GDM1M_VC
Please take the opportunity to connect and share this video with your friends and family if you find it useful.
