Welcome back everyone! Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the world's most famous philosophers, Peter Singer. Here's an online transcript of the very exciting, yet informative interview. Hope you all enjoy it!
RN: So Peter where are you from?
PS: Well Rohan, I am ethnically Austrian, but I was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1946. My parents are from Vienna, and in 1938 they fled to avoid the backlash against Jews. Unfortunately, my grandparents weren't as lucky and perished in a concentration camp.
RN: Wow, that is very sad, but I'm glad your parents were able to escape.
PS: Yes, thank you.
RN: On the topic of family, do you have any siblings Peter?
PS: I have one sister, Joan. She has always been very supportive of my career.
RN: That's good to hear. But where did you get started? What's your educational background?
PS: Well for grades K-12 I attended Preshil in Melbourne and later Scotch College, from which I graduated. For college I attended the University of Melbourne and earned my degree in 1967. There I studied law, history, and philosophy. I guess you could say it was there that I really cultivated an interest in philosophy.
RN: Wow, how impressive!
PS: I'm not quite done yet....After U of M I attend the University of Oxford where I earned a bachelors in philosophy. Now in addition to being an author I also work as a professor at Princeton University.
RN: You seem very educated!
PS: Yes, well...
RN: So, what was the first piece about philosophy you wrote?
PS: That would have to be my thesis, Why Should I be Moral. It was quite good. You should read it.
RN: I bet it was! I would love to. Anyways, what can you tell the viewers of your most popular book, Animal Liberation?
PS: Yes, in the book I discuss my views against speciesism. That is, discrimination on the grounds that an animal belongs to a different species. Thus, I believe that humans should treat other animals the way they would treat other humans. So we should not eat other animals! My book is often viewed as the most influential of the animal liberation movement.
RN: Wow, that’s interesting! Any other books you’ve written that were super popular?
PS: Well, most of my books are very popular, but one of my favorites is Practical Ethics, which has 3 different editions. The first was published in 1979 and the third this year in 2011! It is an introduction to applied ethics, that is how we can use apply ethics to our daily lives, and it covers many ethical issues such as race, sex, infanticide, abortion, euthanasia, embryo experimentation, and obligation to assist others.
RN: Yes that seems like one of your more comprehensive books and looks like it includes a lot of your very diverse, and somewhat shocking views! For a full list of Singer’s publications you all can visit http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/, and for more knowledge of some of his views you can visit http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/faq.html.
Anyways, Peter, one of my favorite articles of yours was The Singer Solution to World Poverty. But I have to ask you, do you donate any money to charity?
PS: Yes Rohan, I actually donate 25% of my earnings to charity.
RN: That’s great Peter! Hopefully more of us will start to do the same. Oh, and it looks like we’re out of time. Thanks for being on the show Peter!
PS: My pleasure
That's so interesting! I respect Singer's decision to promote animal rights alongside helping people out of poverty. Do you think he also donates to animal rights organizations? Also, what are some of Singer's ideas to help the community promote animal rights/what are some of the ways he expresses that ideas that humans and animals are on level planes? I'm really curious...
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ReplyDeleteRohan, I think you've been very creative with this project. You've succeeded in attracting the reader with the dialogue, and I appreciate you effort in trying to write in your dialogue with the voice Peter Singer (which is a difficult voice to give feeling to on paper) and of a news anchor. Good job!
ReplyDeleteAmber, I know he donates to UNICEF, but I don't think he actually donates to animal rights organizations. He thinks that animals and humans are equal and on the same plane. Thus, since we wouldn't kill other animals he believes we shouldn't kill animals. He also claims that raising livestock in order to kill and eat them is comparable to slavery...Ultimately I think its a matter of point of view and that's his.
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