Peter Singer: The most controversial philosopher alive today

Singer’s views on subjects such as abortion, animal rights and euthanasia have got him into hot water

Singer, right, has seen his lectures interrupted by protesters (Getty)

There is a thought about philosophy that it has no relevance for everyday life; that philosophers spend their time in ivory towers pondering questions that have no answers, and that nobody cares about anyway.

Peter Singer, perhaps the most controversial philosopher alive today, is living proof that this is at best an oversimplification. His most trenchant critics have suggested – entirely falsely – that he is a kind of Nazi; his appointment as Professor of Bioethics at Princeton was strongly criticised; and in Germany, his lectures have been disrupted by protests. The cause of this controversy are his ideas about subjects such as abortion, animal rights and euthanasia. 

Singer’s ethical views are consequentialist, which means that he thinks that it is outcomes that are important in judging whether an action is right or not. More precisely, he thinks that what is significant is whether an action tends to maximise the satisfaction of preferences; in other words, does it increase the ability of beings to satisfy the preferences that they have (for example, a desire for material wellbeing or cultural enrichment). At first thought, this conception seems unproblematic; however, further reflection shows that it is in fact fraught with difficulties.