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Quote by Peter Singer

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Animal liberation: a new ethics for our treatment of animals

Animal Liberation presents a comprehensive argument for the ethical consideration of animals, discussing the moral implications of human-animal interactions and proposing a new framework for animal rights and welfare. more

Author

Peter Singer
Peter Singer

Peter Singer (born July 6, 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher renowned for his work in applied ethics, particularly animal liberation, effective altruism, and global poverty. He is a professor of bioethics at Princeton University and author of 'Animal Liberation,' a foundational text of the animal rights movement. Singer argues for extending moral consideration to all sentient beings based on utilitarian principles. His controversial views have sparked global debates but profoundly influenced contemporary ethics, charity practices, and animal welfare policies. more

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“In the past 20 years alone, it adds up to more death than were caused by all the civil and international wars adn government repression of the entire twentieth century, the century of Hitler and Stalin. How much would we give to prevent those horrors? Yet how little are we doing to prevent today's even larger toll and all the misery that it involves? I believe that if you read this book to the end, and look honestly and carefully at our situation, assessing both the facts and the ethical arguments, you will agree that we must act.”

“If we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animal, a dog or a pig, for example, we will often find the nonhuman to have superior capacities, both actual and potential, for rationality, self-consciousness, communication and anything else that can plausibly be considered morally significant.”

“My view is different from this, only to the extent that if a decision is taken, by the parents and doctors, that it is better that a baby should die, I believe it should be possible to carry out that decision, not only by withholding or withdrawing life-support - which can lead to the baby dying slowly from dehydration or from an infection - but also by taking active steps to end the baby's life swiftly and humanely.”