Episode · People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-07-21
Books mentioned on Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt | People I (Mostly) Admire | Ep 90
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Animal Liberation
Animal Liberation by Peter Singer is a foundational philosophy text that galvanized the modern animal rights movement by arguing against the moral permissibility of animal exploitation.
Discussed“I personally know at least a dozen people who became vegetarian after they read his book animal Liberation and the effective altruism movement is in large part the consequence of his early writings on the topic”
Where to get it
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The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is a foundational 1776 text in economics that explores the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, famously introducing concepts like the division of labor and the invisible hand of the free market.
Discussed“it really crashes head long into this view in economics which I've been so indoctrinated into with so many years in the field an Adam Smith's book The Wealth of Nations he laid out what's called The Invisible Hand Theory”
Where to get it
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The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith is a foundational 1759 philosophical work examining the moral agency, empathy, and social bonds that govern human interactions.
Discussed“You're referring to the Adam Smith of The Wealth of Nations but there's also the Adam Smith of the theory of moral sentiments and I think that the distinction between the two is that in the theory of moral sentiments Smith is lying at a moral theory”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Own book Practical ethics
“I can trace that because my book practical ethics in which one chapter talks about these issues had been translated into German several years before the first protest in 1989 and it had hardly sold any copies”