Animal Liberation, Saving Lives, Ethics and Controversies: Prof. Peter Singer

For the latest episode of Dakini Conversations podcast Episode 8, Adele Tomlin speaks with writer, thinker and philanthropist, Prof. Peter Singer, considered by many to be the “founder of the modern animal welfare movement,” he was recently named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine (https://content.time.com/time/special.... I first came across Singer’s ideas  a few years ago (before becoming a Buddhist) while a Philosophy postgraduate student in London and I was studying his works on animals and ethics.  It was groundbreaking and inspiring, and I agreed with everything he wrote about animals and our lack of respect and care for them when treating them as food for humans. Shortly after, I became vegetarian.  So having the chance to meet and discuss these issues with Singer is like a personal dream come true. After Singer became a vegetarian at Oxford University, he wrote what would become one of his most influential works, Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals (1975). In this ground-breaking book, Singer challenges the speciesism of human beings who kill animals to eat, stating that if we did the same thing to humans with a similar level of consciousness/sentience, people would (and do) strongly object. In 1999, after teaching at New York University, Singer became a Professor at Princeton University. This appointment was protested by people who objected to his view on euthanasia. He has been called a 'dangerous philosopher' by some.  In 2009, Singer wrote the first edition of The Life You Can Save to demonstrate why we should care about and help those living in global extreme poverty, and how easy it is to improve and even save lives by giving effectively. In 2018, Singer also  co-founded the open-access Journal of Controversial Ideas. Now, nearly 50 years on, Singer has published a revised version titled Animal Liberation Now. Singer also recently entered into a discussion of Buddhist ideas and ethics with a Taiwanese Buddhist nun, Venerable Shih Chao-hwei, in the publication of their new book, The Buddhist and the Ethicist: Conversations on Effective Altruism, Engaged Buddhism, and How to Build a Better World (Shambhala, 2024).