Accessibility Tools

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

The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is changing ideas about living ethically by Peter Singer

by
May 2015, no. 371

The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is changing ideas about living ethically by Peter Singer

Text Publishing, $32.99 pb, 226 pp, 9781922182692

The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is changing ideas about living ethically by Peter Singer

by
May 2015, no. 371

Much contemporary moral philosophy is highly abstract, with technical arguments advanced on issues that appear far removed from ordinary life. But not all academic ethics has this form. The field of practical ethics has flourished over the last four decades, bringing philosophical techniques to bear on ethical issues in medicine, animal husbandry, climate change, and global poverty. Peter Singer is the movement’s central figure, with his Practical Ethics, first published in 1979, now in its third edition.

While by no means a theoretical work, the contours of Singer’s commitment to utilitarianism can be discerned in his new book, The Most Good You Can Do. Originating in the work of Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and Herbert Spencer, utilitarianism says that the morally best action in every situation is the one that maximises happiness. Utilitarianism is one formulation of consequentialism, the theory that actions are to be judged by their consequence rather than by, say, their adherence to God’s word or, as Kant thought, by their relation to duty.

Ian Ravenscroft reviews 'The Most Good You Can Do' by Peter Singer

The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is changing ideas about living ethically

by Peter Singer

Text Publishing, $32.99 pb, 226 pp, 9781922182692

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.