Person
Every book Peter Singer recommended on podcasts
Across 6 podcasts. Every show Peter Singer appears on, in one place — not just one.
Peter Singer is an Australian moral philosopher and professor who is best known for his work in applied ethics and his role in founding the modern animal liberation movement. Throughout various podcast appearances, Singer discussed and recommended several of his own seminal works alongside historical texts. On The Rich Roll Podcast, he promoted his book The Life You Can Save, encouraging listeners to access it as a digital text or audiobook and consult recommended charities. He also referenced this book on Modern Wisdom while explaining his updated perspectives on charitable giving percentages based on income. On People I (Mostly) Admire, Singer brought up Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments alongside The Wealth of Nations to distinguish between Smith's economic descriptions and his underlying moral theories. While speaking on Conversations with Tyler, Singer reflected on the decades that have passed since the original publication of Animal Liberation and the slow pace of societal progress in animal welfare. Finally, during his appearance on People I (Mostly) Admire, Singer mentioned his influential 1972 article and publication Famine, Affluence, and Morality to illustrate his foundational views on human moral responsibility and global poverty.
Books recommended by Peter Singer
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The life you can save
The Life You Can Save: How to Play Your Part in Ending World Poverty by Peter Singer is a foundational work of moral philosophy and effective altruism that argues affluent individuals have an ethical obligation to alleviate extreme global suffering.
Recommended“you can go to the life you can save dot org and you can look at the Charities that we recommend and click on get more details on each one”
Where to get it
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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“but the fact that there's been relatively little progress in terms of treating animals better over the 48 years since the first version of animal Liberation appeared does make me concerned”
Where to get it
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The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith is a seminal 1759 work of moral philosophy that examines the psychological foundations of human judgment, empathy, and social order.
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
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Ethics in the Real World
Ethics in the Real World by Peter Singer is a collection of accessible essays exploring pressing moral issues, poverty, animal welfare, and applied ethics.
Discussed“I suggest instead say in my book the life you can save I suggest more reasonable percentages of incomes that scale up as you earn more”
Where to get it
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Famine, affluence, and morality
Famine, Affluence, and Morality is a seminal philosophical essay by Peter Singer that argues wealthy individuals have a profound moral obligation to donate significantly more resources to alleviate global suffering and poverty.
Discussed“and my illustration of this comes from an early article that I published in 1972 called famine affluence and morality”
Where to get it
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Marriage and morals
Discussed“people objected to his appointment because of what he'd written in an essay called marriage and morals”
Where to get it
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Practical ethics
Practical ethics by Peter Singer is a prominent philosophy book that addresses applied ethical issues, including the definition of equality, the moral status of animals, and complex dilemmas surrounding life and death.
Discussed“and I can trace that because my book practical ethics in which one chapter talks about these issues had been translated into German”
Where to get it
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The Concept of Mind
Discussed“but in philosophy the view defended by people like Gilbert Ryle who was a professor of philosophy at Oxford wrote a book called the concept of mind in which you know in this kind of phase this is in the 40s of linguistic philosophy he said well the meaning of a term is its use”
Where to get it
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The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is a foundational text in classical economics that explores the nature and causes of national wealth through the division of labor, productivity, and free markets.
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”
Where to get it
Books Peter Singer wrote
- Practical ethics
- Animal Liberation Now
- Animal Liberation
- The life you can save
- The Expanding Circle
- One World
- The Most Good You Can Do
- Ethics in the Real World
- Famine, affluence, and morality
- A Darwinian Left
- Hegel
- Pushing Time Away
Appearances
Other mentions (16: passing, ad reads, own books)
“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”
“so that's what my focus is in animal Liberation now and and in fact a lot of my work has been aimed at that”
“it's nearly 50 years since you first published animal liberation why we release the book now”
“well you know has have we made progress for Animals over the time since you wrote Animal Liberation um I wanted to answer that question”
“there were virtually no vegans when in 1975 when the book was published there are now I think supposed to be 1.3 million vegans in the United Kingdom”
“um in animal Liberation now I think I mentioned three of them one in England one in Germany and one here in Australia”
“and he happened to come across my animal Liberation at the same time”
“I didn't really think much about it in the early versions of the book but I have a few pages about it in animal Liberation now”
“I suggest instead say in my book the life you can save I suggest more reasonable percentages of incomes that scale up as you earn more”
“well um perhaps I was uh a little naive about how easy it might have been to to change these deeply ingrained habits and to combat major industries”
“the organization that I founded that recommends effective Charities recommends a couple that do restore sight”
“I wrote a book back in the 80s called the expanding Circle in which I talked about the way in which throughout human history we have pushed the boundaries of our moral sphere outwards”
“I also wrote a book uh called One World um was published just after 9 11 and uh in that I was looking towards the strengthening of global institutions”
“so Charlie Bressler who's the person who with whom I really co-founded the life you can save was before he read the book that I wrote the life you can save um president of uh uh men's clothing retail chain in the United States”
“so in fact yeah it was initially published by random house um and at some point uh Charlie said let's try and get the rights back so that we can make it free”
“so you know I'm still in touch with one of these graduates I wrote about him in a book called the most good you can do”