Practical Ethics by Peter Singer

Key ideas & Notes

• Ethics is NOT an ideal system that is good in theory but not useful in practice

• Consequentialists vs. Deontologists

• Immanuel Kant — “Act only on such maxim that through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”

• Ethics needs to go beyond I and You to the universal law and or 'ideal observer'

• John Rawls — Veil of ignorance

• Equality is a basic ethical principle, not an assertion of fact

• No difference in ability between two people justifies any difference in consideration we give to their interests.

• Basic principle of equality: Principle of equal consideration of interests

• Equality of opportunity is NOT an attractive ideal (p.39) - Rewards the lucky who inherit the right abilities + Penalises those whose genes make it hard for them to succeed

• Rewarding for IQ is effectively unfair - should we try to reward Effort instead?

• Jeremy Bentham: Capacity for suffering is a vital characteristic that entitles a being to equal consideration of interests

• Sentience (capacity to suffer and experience enjoyment) is the only meaningful boundary for concern of interests of others.

• Racism: Violates principle of equality by giving greater weight to the interest of their own race/group.

• Speciesism: Violates principle of equality by giving grater weight to the interest of ones own species

• Right to life

  • The being's capacity to have desires (i.e. also a desire to live) determines if it is entitled to the relevant rights. 

  • Continued existence cannot be in the interest of a being that has NEVER had a concept of continuing self (i.e. is not a person)

• Value of life

  • Four main reasons why a person's life may have a distinctly higher value than a life of another sentient being:

    1. 1. Classical utilitarian concern about the effect of killing on others

    2. 2. Preference utilitarian concern about frustration of victim's desires for the future

    3. 3. Capacity to conceive of oneself as a being existing over time is a precondition to have a right to life

    4. 4. Respect for autonomy

• Taking life of animals

  • Some humans are NOT persons and some non-human animals are persons

  • There is no objective reason to give priority to killing of non-human persons over human non-persons

  • Killing of non-self-conscious animals is not wrong when these animals:

    • lead pleasant lives

    • are killed painlessly

    • their deaths do not cause suffering to other animals

    • and when killing of one animal makes it possible for it to be replaced by another animal who would otherwise not have lived

• Taking life of humans

  • Is fetus a person? No, because it does not meet the definition of a person (does not have desires or conception of itself as a being existing over time.

  • Is fetus a human? Yes, as in member of the species Homo Sapiens — Therefore, there is no automatic right to life merely based on the membership to a given species.

  • There is no evidence that a fetus' brain is sufficiently developed to receive any signals before week 18 of gestation

  • Newborn babies do not have a right to life as they are not persons and are not capable of seeing themselves as beings with future. BUT, in practice, on an intuitive morality level, we should act as if an infant had a right to life from the day it was born.

  • We should put strict conditions on permissible infanticide

  • There is no intrinsic moral difference between killing and allowing to die

  • Active euthanasia should be accepted as humane in certain circumstances

• Rich and Poor

  • Differences between killing and allowing to die in the context of poverty and overseas aid:

    • 1. Lack of an identifiable victim (although this is not morally relevant)

    • 2. The idea that we are directly responsible for those who we kill but not those we do not help.

    • 3. Inability to commit to saving all one can (having to become a saint)

    • 4. Differences in motivation (i.e. the difference between wishing for death vs. being indifferent to it like a speeding motorist)

    • 5. Lack of certainty (that giving money will actually save life)

  • Those earning above average incomes in affluence societies should give 10% of their income to help reduce absolute poverty.

• Ends and means

  • If we reject the doctrine that majority is always right, which we must, then to submit moral issues to the vote is a gamble that we will often lose.

  • Pacifists who reject the use of violence even when it is the only means of preventing greater violence would be responsible for this greater violence they failed to prevent.