Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

Pain and suffering

Two thinkers in conversation
by
April 2024, no. 463

The Buddhist and the Ethicist: Conversations on effective altruism, engaged Buddhism, and how to build a better world by Peter Singer and Shih Chao-Hwei

Text Publishing, $36.99 pb, 256 pp

Pain and suffering

Two thinkers in conversation
by
April 2024, no. 463

This volume brings together two highly credentialled thinkers about moral and ethical matters: Peter Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and Venerable Shih Chao-Hwei, a Taiwanese Buddhist nun, founder of the animal welfare organisation the Life Conservation Association and the Buddhist Hong-Shi College, as well as a lecturer at Hsuan Chuang University.

Peter Singer is Australia’s best-known philosopher. An atheist and a utilitarian, he is most famous for extending the utilitarian ideal – often understood to be the greatest good for the greatest number, but described by Singer as the ‘greatest possible benefit’ – to all sentient beings. Shih Chao-Hwei was born in Myanmar, after her family’s flight from China following the rise of communism, and moved to Taiwan at an early age. After exploring Buddhism at university, she was ordained as a Bhikshuni – a nun – in a Mahayana Buddhist tradition, which (like most forms of Buddhism) is known for its strong ethical standpoints and its aversion to killing. Chao-Hwei belongs to an international network associated with the term Engaged Buddhism, which was coined by the Vietnamese monk Thích Nhất Hạnh (who was not the fourteenth Dalai Lama as the book’s prelims suggest). Engaged Buddhism, a modern Buddhist ecumenical movement, aims to connect Buddhist teachings and practitioners to social justice issues. Chao-Hwei has been a vocal advocate in Taiwan for the rights of women, LGBTQI+ communities, and animal liberation.

The Buddhist and the Ethicist: Conversations on effective altruism, engaged Buddhism, and how to build a better world

The Buddhist and the Ethicist: Conversations on effective altruism, engaged Buddhism, and how to build a better world

by Peter Singer and Shih Chao-Hwei

Text Publishing, $36.99 pb, 256 pp

From the New Issue

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.