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Peter Singer

Peter Singer

Writing for PS since 2001
242 commentaries
1 videos & podcasts

Peter Singer, Emeritus Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics at the National University of Singapore, is co-host of the podcast Lives Well Lived, co-founder of the charity The Life You Can Save. His books include Consider the Turkey, Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), Rethinking Life and Death, The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, The Most Good You Can Do, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, One World Now, Ethics in the Real WorldWhy Vegan?, and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, also with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. In April 2021, W.W. Norton published his new edition of Apuleius’s The Golden Ass. In 2013, he was named the world's third "most influential contemporary thinker" by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. He is a co-author (with Shih Chao-Hwei) of The Buddhist and the Ethicist (Shambhala Publications, 2023).

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  1. Are We Responsible for Our Choices?
    singer240_GuyerwoodGettyImages_railroad_switch Guyerwood/Getty Images

    Are We Responsible for Our Choices?

    Mar 10, 2025 Peter Singer identifies a common flaw shared by deterministic theories of human behavior.

  2. “America First” in Action
    singer239_Andrew HarnikGetty Images_americafirst Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    “America First” in Action

    Feb 6, 2025 Peter Singer assesses the damage Donald Trump has already done to long-term US interests since returning to the White House.

  3. Australia’s Great Social-Media Experiment
    singer238_Matt CardyGettyImages_teens_on_phones Matt Cardy/Getty Images

    Australia’s Great Social-Media Experiment

    Jan 6, 2025 Peter Singer assesses the merits of new legislation requiring users to be at least 16 years old.

  4. Choice in Dying Comes to the UK
    singer237_Carl CourtGettyImages_pro_euthanasia_protest_london Carl Court/Getty Images

    Choice in Dying Comes to the UK

    Dec 6, 2024 Peter Singer welcomes the approval of a bill that promises to empower terminally ill patients in England and Wales.

  5. What Progressives Must Learn from Trump’s Campaign
    singer236_ohn SenterUCGUniversal Images Group via Getty Images)_trump harris ads John Senter/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    What Progressives Must Learn from Trump’s Campaign

    Nov 14, 2024 Peter Singer thinks one of the most important lessons is to uphold open debate and address hot-button issues head-on.

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  1. fbirol4_UCGGettyImages_south_africa_power_grid UCG/Getty Images

    What African Electrification Requires

    Fatih Birol & Alain Ebobissé highlight the need for greater private-sector participation to boost investments in power grids.
  2. nye268_John MooreGetty Images_trumpUN John Moore/Getty Images

    How World Order Changes

    Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

    World order is a matter of degree: it varies over time, depending on technological, political, social, and ideological factors that can affect the global distribution of power and influence norms. It can be radically altered both by broader historical trends and by a single major power's blunders.

    examines the role of evolving power dynamics and norms in bringing about stable arrangements among states.
  3. buruma226_Picture AllianceGettyImages_tel _aviv_antiwar_protests Picture Alliance/Getty Images

    Israel’s Blind Spot

    Ian Buruma explains the lack of sympathy, even among the country’s many anti-war protesters, for Palestinian suffering.
  4. sirimanne1_Visual China Group via Getty ImagesVisual China Group via Getty Images_robotelderly Visual China Group via Getty Images

    Will AI Close or Widen the Development Gap?

    Shamika Sirimanne & Xiaolan Fu call for multilateral action and grassroots pressure to ensure that the technology serves all countries.
  5. dickinsongoodman1_DrAfter123Getty Images_datasurveillance DrAfter123/Getty Images

    Don’t Let Governments Break Encryption

    Jessica Dickinson Goodman & Ezequiel Passeron Kitroser urge citizens and lawmakers to fight for the privacy that previous generations took for granted.
  6. wmoore1_Sofiia PetrovaGetty Images_babyvitamins Sofiia Petrova/Getty Images

    Philanthropy in an Era of Declining Development Aid

    William Moore urges practitioners and policymakers to focus on already proven, scalable solutions.
  7. adebajo14_Bill PuglianoGettyImages_trump_wrestlemania Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

    South Africa’s Wrestling Match With Trump

    Adekeye Adebajo considers whether the current G20 president can still advance its agenda in the face of US obstruction.
  8. haldar44_ Ann Ronan PicturesPrint CollectorGetty Images_aristotle Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images

    How Aristotle Can Save Us

    Antara Haldar touts a conception of society in which politics and education cultivate the virtue of its members.
  9. laidi35_Pacific PressGettyImages_kaja_kallas_un Pacific Press/Getty Images

    Trump vs. Europe

    Zaki Laïdi

    Donald Trump has left no doubt that he wants to build an authoritarian, illiberal world order based on traditional spheres of influence and agreements with other illiberal leaders. The only role that the European Union plays in his script is an obstacle that must be pushed aside.

    warns that the European Union has no place in Donald Trump’s illiberal worldview.

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