Singer offers viewpoint on students' ethical dilemmas

Peter Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, raised questions to make students rethink their daily ethical choices this past Tuesday in the second of a series of ethics discussions sponsored by the Office of Religious Life.

Singer — whom Wilson College assistant master Eliot Ratzman GS introduced as "the most influential intellectual in the field of ethics" — focused the discussion on issues of ethical spending and humane treatment of animals.

"What is it that entitles us to treat nonhuman animals as badly as we do?" Singer asked his audience, and compared the mistreatment of animals today to the treatment of black slaves in America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Singer said that though he does not label himself a staunch vegan, he chooses to live a vegan lifestyle in all possible situations. He added that such a lifestyle choice is something each individual must make for him or herself.

Citing a movement among students at Wesleyan College, in which students protested until their dining halls used organic eggs, Singer urged University students to stand up for their ethical beliefs and make changes at the University in accordance with them.

"We all know that we have to eat something, but there are organically produced alternatives available to us," Singer said.

Singer also addressed the question of ethical spending in a consumer-driven world. He said he does not support a state mandate to give to charity, and that voluntary charity is the best way to deplete poverty and aid developing countries.

"If every person gave voluntarily, it would take very little to raise the economic situation in the developing world," Singer said. "We're looking at two percent of yearly income here."

Singer also encouraged students to use their Princeton educations for social good, truly carrying out the University motto and putting themselves "in the nation's service."

Singer said that America needs to take bigger steps to curb environmental problems like the greenhouse effect.

"Our nation as a whole is not taking steps to use energy more efficiently," he said.

The author of many articles and books explaining his utilitarian views, including "Practical Ethics" and "One World," Singer said his next book, "President of Good and Evil: Ethics of George W. Bush," will be published next year.