Peter Albert David Singer was born on July 6, 1946. He is an Australian ethicist and Emeritus Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. His work focuses on applied ethics, using a secular and utilitarian approach to examine moral issues. Singer wrote the book Animal Liberation (1975), which promotes vegetarianism, and the essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," which discusses the moral duty to help people in need worldwide. For much of his career, he followed a type of utilitarianism called preference utilitarianism. In The Point of View of the Universe (2014), co-written with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, he explained that he later adopted a form of utilitarianism focused on maximizing happiness.

Singer served as chair of the philosophy department at Monash University twice. He also founded the Centre for Human Bioethics at the university. In 1996, he ran as a candidate for the Australian Senate but was not elected. In 2004, he was named Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies. In 2005, The Sydney Morning Herald listed him among Australia’s ten most influential public intellectuals. Singer co-founded Animals Australia and started the non-profit organization The Life You Can Save.

Early life and education

Peter Albert David Singer was born on July 6, 1946, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. His parents were Austrian Jews who moved to Australia from Vienna after Austria was taken over by Nazi Germany in 1938. They settled in Melbourne. His father’s parents were taken by the Nazis to Łódź and were likely murdered, as they were never heard from again. His mother’s father, David Ernst Oppenheim (1881–1943), was an educator and psychologist who worked with Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. He was murdered in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Oppenheim was part of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and wrote a joint article with Freud before joining the Adlerian Society for Individual Psychology. Singer later wrote a biography about Oppenheim.

Singer is an atheist and was raised in a non-religious family that was financially successful. His father owned a business that imported tea and coffee. His family did not often celebrate Jewish holidays, and Singer did not have a Bar Mitzvah. He attended Preshil and later Scotch College. After finishing school, Singer studied law, history, and philosophy at Ormond College, which is part of the University of Melbourne. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1967. Singer chose to major in philosophy after being interested in discussions with his sister’s boyfriend. He earned a master’s degree in 1969 for a thesis titled Why Should I Be Moral? Singer received a scholarship to study at the University of Oxford, where he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1971. His thesis, about civil disobedience, was later published as a book in 1973. Singer credits R. M. Hare, Australian philosopher H. J. McCloskey, and British philosopher J. L. H. Thomas as his most important mentors, as they taught him how to read and understand Hegel.

In the preface to Hegel: A Very Short Introduction, Singer recalls his time in Thomas’ classes at Oxford, where students were required to carefully analyze Hegel’s work. One day at Balliol College, Singer had an experience he later called the most important one that shaped his life. He was having lunch with a graduate student named Richard Keshen, who would later become a professor at Cape Breton University. Keshen chose a salad instead of spaghetti because the sauce contained meat. Singer ate the spaghetti. Later, Singer asked Keshen why he avoided meat. Keshen explained his ethical reasons. Singer said he had never met a vegetarian who gave such a clear and understandable explanation. Keshen introduced Singer to his vegetarian friends. Singer found a book titled Animal Machines by Ruth Harrison, which helped him understand the issue. Within a week or two, he told his wife that he believed their family needed to change their diet and that eating meat was no longer justifiable.

Academic career

After working as a Radcliffe lecturer at University College, Oxford for three years, he became a visiting professor at New York University for 16 months. During this time, he helped shape the ideas of James Rachels and Peter Unger about animals and famine. In 1977, he returned to Melbourne, where he worked for most of his career, except for positions as a visiting teacher at other universities, until he moved to Princeton in 1999.

In June 2011, he joined the faculty of New College of the Humanities, a private college in London, while continuing his work at Princeton. He gave his final lecture at Princeton in 2023 and has since retired. He has regularly written for Project Syndicate since 2001.

Philosopher Helga Kuhse stated that Singer is likely the most well-known and widely read philosopher of his time. Michael Specter noted that Singer is one of the most influential philosophers today. In 2018, Singer helped start the open-access Journal of Controversial Ideas with bioethicist Francesca Minerva and moral philosopher Jeff McMahan.

Applied ethics

Peter Singer’s book Practical Ethics (1979) is a work about applied ethics, which means it discusses how to solve real-world moral problems. In the book, Singer uses a method called preference utilitarianism to examine issues like equality, global poverty, euthanasia, vegetarianism, environmental ethics, civil disobedience, and violence. He encourages readers to think carefully about their moral beliefs and to choose actions that are fair and logical, even if those choices are not always popular.

The book explains that the interests of living beings should be considered when making ethical decisions. Singer argues that ethics should be based on fairness and a perspective that applies equally to all people. He introduces the idea of equal consideration of interests, which means treating the needs of different beings fairly, even if they are not treated the same. For example, avoiding pain and developing abilities are different needs, so they may require different actions. Singer also explains that the ability to feel pain or happiness, called sentience, is what determines whether a being has interests that deserve moral attention. Sentient beings also have needs like food, shelter, relationships, and freedom to pursue their goals. Singer concludes that the best action is the one that most benefits those affected.

Singer’s approach to ethics applies to all beings with interests, not just humans, unlike some other ethical theories that focus only on human reasoning. He connects this idea to the work of philosophers like Immanuel Kant and Richard Hare. This perspective is different from theories that link morality to self-interest, such as those of Thomas Hobbes or David Gauthier. Singer believes that treating others fairly leads to utilitarianism, which focuses on maximizing overall happiness. He argues that Kantian ethics, which prioritize human judgment, are unfair to animals. In his book, Singer also addresses how self-interest can support ethical behavior, such as the idea that happiness is best achieved by not focusing too much on it. Singer identifies as a sentientist, meaning he believes all sentient beings deserve moral consideration.

Singer’s ideas have influenced the movement called effective altruism, which encourages people to reduce suffering in the most efficient way possible. In his 2015 book The Most Good You Can Do, Singer explains how effective altruism helps reduce poverty and animal suffering, especially in the meat industry. He is involved with Animal Charity Evaluators, an organization that recommends the most cost-effective ways to help animals. Singer also founded The Life You Can Save (TLYCS), which supports charities that help people in extreme poverty. This organization was inspired by his 2009 book, which expands on his earlier essay Famine, Affluence, and Morality (1972). In that essay, Singer argues that people in wealthy nations have a moral duty to give money to help the poor. He uses the drowning child analogy to explain that saving a child from drowning is a moral duty, even if it means losing expensive clothes. Singer believes people should prioritize helping others over buying unnecessary things. Since 2009, he has been a member of Giving What We Can, a group that encourages people to give at least 10% of their income to effective charities.

Published in 1975, Animal Liberation has influenced the modern animal rights movement. Singer argues that the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number should apply to all animals, not just humans. He points out that the distinction between humans and other animals is arbitrary, as there are greater differences between some animals than between humans and others. Singer introduced the term speciesism, which describes the unfair preference for humans over other animals. He supports equal consideration of interests for all sentient beings.

In Animal Liberation, Singer promotes vegetarianism and opposes most animal testing. He has been a vegetarian since 1971 and has gradually become more vegan, though he is not fully vegan. He occasionally eats oysters, mussels, and clams because they lack a central nervous system. Singer believes eating meat is not inherently unethical if animals live well and are killed humanely without suffering.

In an article for Chinadialogue, Singer criticized Western-style meat production for being cruel, unhealthy, and harmful to the environment. He explained that factory farming uses large amounts of food and energy, much of which is wasted. In a 2010 article in The Guardian, Singer highlighted the suffering of fish, citing statistics that estimate global wild fish capture at around one trillion, possibly as high as 2.7 trillion.

Some chapters of Animal Liberation discuss the ethical issues of animal testing. Unlike groups like PETA, Singer supports testing if it benefits medicine. In 2006, he said experiments on monkeys for Parkinson’s disease research could be justified. Singer continues to advocate for ethical treatment of animals while recognizing the need for medical research when it is clearly beneficial.

Recognition

In 1981, Singer was chosen as a corresponding fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In 2000, he was honored with a place in the United States Animal Rights Hall of Fame. In June 2012, Singer was given the title of Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for "outstanding service to philosophy and bioethics as a leader in public debate and communicator of ideas related to global poverty, animal welfare, and the human condition." In 2016, Singer received Philosophy Now’s Award for Contributions in the Fight Against Stupidity for his work to challenge people’s comfort in ignoring others’ needs, especially his efforts linked to the Effective Altruism movement.

In 2018, Singer was mentioned in the book Rescuing Ladybugs by Jennifer Skiff, an author and animal advocate, as a "hero among heroes in the world" who helped people believe that animals are sentient and that humans have a moral duty to avoid harming them. The book explains that Singer’s ideas about animal equality began when he asked a classmate at Oxford University about their eating habits.

In 2021, Singer was given the US$1-million Berggruen Prize and decided to donate all of it. He gave half to his foundation, The Life You Can Save, because each dollar spent by the foundation generated an average of $17 in donations for recommended nonprofits. He stated he never took money for personal use from the organization. He also plans to give more than a third of the prize money to groups working to reduce harmful animal farming practices, as recommended by Animal Charity Evaluators.

In 2022, Singer received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of "Humanities and Social Sciences." Singer is part of the Executive Advisory Board of the World.Minds Foundation, where he helps guide global discussions about ethics in science, society, and responsibility.

Personal life

Since 1968, Singer has been married to Renata Singer, who was born as Diamond in 1947 in Wałbrzych, Poland. Together, they have three children: Ruth, who is a textile artist; Marion, who is a lawyer and works with young people in the arts; and Esther, who is a linguist and teaches. Renata Singer is also a novelist and has worked together with her husband on books and articles. Until 2021, she was the president of the Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre and National Library in Melbourne.

Publications

• Democracy and Disobedience, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1973; Oxford University Press, New York, 1974; Gregg Revivals, Aldershot, Hampshire, 1994
• Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals, New York Review/Random House, New York, 1975; Cape, London, 1976; Avon, New York, 1977; Paladin, London, 1977; Thorsons, London, 1983. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, New York, 2002. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, New York, 2009. Fully revised edition: Harper, New York, 2023; Bodley Head, London, 2023; Harper Perennial, New York, 2023; Vintage, London, 2024
• Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980; second edition, 1993; third edition, 2011. ISBN 0-521-22920-0, ISBN 0-521-29720-6, ISBN 978-0-521-70768-8
• Marx, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1980; Hill & Wang, New York, 1980; reprinted as Marx: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000; second edition published 2018; also included in full in K. Thomas (ed.), Great Political Thinkers: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Mill and Marx, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992
• The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1981; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981; New American Library, New York, 1982. ISBN 0-19-283038-4
• Hegel, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 1982; reprinted as Hegel: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2001; also included in full in German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997
• How Are We to Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-interest, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 1993; Mandarin, London, 1995; Prometheus, Buffalo, NY, 1995; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997
• Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 1994; St Martin's Press, New York, 1995; reprint 2008. ISBN 0-312-11880-5 Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995
• Ethics into Action: Henry Spira and the Animal Rights Movement, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, 1998; Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1999
• A Darwinian Left, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1999; Yale University Press, New Haven, 2000. ISBN 0-300-08323-8
• One World: The Ethics of Globalisation, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2002; Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2002; 2nd edition, pb, Yale University Press, 2004; Oxford Longman, Hyderabad, 2004. ISBN 0-300-09686-0
• Pushing Time Away: My Grandfather and the Tragedy of Jewish Vienna, Ecco Press, New York, 2003; HarperCollins Australia, Melbourne, 2003; Granta, London, 2004
• The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush, Dutton, New York, 2003; Granta, London, 2004
• The Life You Can Save, Random House, New York, 2007; Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2007
• The Point of View of the Universe, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008
• The Most Good You Can Do, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2015
• The Ethics of What We Eat, with a new preface, 2nd edition, Random House, New York, 2011; Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2011
• The Ends of Life: A New Vision, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2016
• The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021

• Animal Liberation, co-authored with Jim Mason, Random House, New York, 1976; Penguin Books, London, 1976
• Practical Ethics, co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984
• Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics, co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995
• The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology, co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998
• The Ethics of What We Eat, co-authored with Jim Mason, Random House, New York, 2006; Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2006
• The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008
• The Most Good You Can Do, co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2015
• The Ends of Life: A New Vision, co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2016
• The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology, co-authored with Helga Kuhse, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021

• Writ