Preview

Peter Singer's Argument

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
378 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Peter Singer's Argument
You've looked at a few things that present Peter Singer's argument against the way we use animals for food and other products. Pretend that you're talking to a friend and they ask you why Singer thinks it's wrong to eat a cheeseburger. Explain his argument (or what you take to be the core of his argument).
Remember, you're trying to explain this to someone who isn't familiar with Singer. And, what you're trying to explain is not just *what* he thinks, but why he thinks it. If I were explaining to a friend why Singer thinks it is wrong to eat a cheeseburger, I would begin by explaining suffering. One example that Singer gives relating to the idea of suffering is about a baby and a horse. If a person slaps a horse and then slaps a baby with

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Animals deserve rights because just like humans, they feel excruciating pain, suffer and have feelings. One would argue that animals don’t experience emotions? But the answer is of course they do. It is emotions that allow animals to display various behavior patterns. According to the theory of utilitarianism, all sentient beings should be given consideration in the society and this includes both animals and humans. Also, animals cannot speak for themselves and for this reason they should be treated equally, protected and given the same respect as human beings. Peter singer’s approach also supports the argument on equal consideration in that animals deserve the same respect as human beings but just in a different view. In today’s society humans exploit animals for milk, meat, fur, scientific experimentation etc. and animals are constantly injured or killed. Their pain and sufferings should be taken into consideration, as this unjust treatment is morally unacceptable. Similarly speciesism is an…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bill McKibben’s essay “The Only Way to Have a Cow” establishes a sense of comfort as his approach to the meat eating controversy is superbly logical. The current industrial approach to livestock has birthed an issue pertaining to the sustainability and healthy feeding of our lives. Yet there is another problem in relation to our consumption, which tends to be overlooked. If the pricing of meat reflected in the damage done to our environments, feedlot beef would cost more than grass-fed beef both financially and environmentally. It is the rapid, inhumane dietary feeding of the cow which is insulting, not the consumption of it, and taking no responsibility for the run-off is an offense to the earth and it’s inhabitants. These costs alone are part of the reasoning for the current system which is inefficient and uneconomically feasible. The…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kuper uses a calm tone in his Ted Talk which allows the audience to be engage. His examples seems realistic and logical, for example: he talks about a woman who is working hard so that her son can attend university. Singer also uses a lighter tone in his Ted Talk which allows his argument to be more persuasive to the audience. However, his examples does not seems practical or realistic enough to grasp the audience attention. Instead, the examples pull the audience back because they do not understand what he is trying to emphasize or explain. Kuper believes that charity is limited, in order to help one we need to think about profit. He introduce the Gates Foundation and Micro Insurance Fund which are two organizations that allows one to see how profit works. He also believes that if one gives a small amount of his or her income every month consistently then it can make a huge difference. Kuper talks about the poor, but also those who are excluded. He concluded that giving also helps those who give (adding profit and external meaning). Kuper argument allows persons to make their own decision and give willing. In contrast, Singer talks about charity and donation has if those are the only solutions. He believes that the money we are spending on unnecessary things, like leisure should be given to charity. He also talks about effective altruism as a solution. He…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Peter Singer thinks we are too selfish with our money. In “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”, he proposes a solution to poverty in other countries. Singer believes that money that might otherwise be used for luxury goods should be donated to charities that help save lives in poorer countries. He believes that this decision increase overall happiness more than the purchase of a luxury good, like new shoes, would. While Singer’s argument raises an important moral point, it leads to a very dangerous moral precedent that could leave the problem worse off than before. Singer’s argument should be taken in a limited scope to help determine right action; otherwise, it becomes a radical doctrine.…

    • 1712 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peter Singer brings to light a very important global problem, poverty, and offers an extreme solution to solve this problem. Peter Singer argues that the solution to world poverty is living simply and giving all excess household money to charities. Singer uses effective examples to get his point across, but gives an unreasonable solution. He gives the example that the failure to donate money will directly result in the death of children in need. "Whatever money you're spending on luxuries, not necessities, should be given away." (Singer)…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    PHI 208 Week 2 assignment

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The primary objective of Singer’s post is to convey that we the folks have the capacity to assist men and women in need that is less lucky since it's our moral duty to do so. He uses the disaster in East Bengal for example. As per Singer, P. (1972), “Continuous poverty, a cyclone, and a civil war have turned a minimum of 9 million people into abandoned refugees; nonetheless, it's not beyond the capability of the wealthier countries to provide sufficient help to decrease further suffering to very small proportions” (pg. 229). He thinks that there's no reason at all for folks to suffer if other people have the capability to avoid it from happening. It’s our moral responsibility to…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fred Singer Argument

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The vast amount of opposing views from qualified scientists on global warming can easily confuse any reader. The manipulation of data is a main culprit, which is largely to blame for the confusion. This tactic, carefully used by global warming skeptics, falsely makes information appear to prove that global warming does not exist. Fred Singer’s 10 year graph, which shows no rise in global temperatures is a perfect example. While the 10 years Singer has selected show no warming in temperature, when the graph is viewed in its entirety there is a substantial warming trend. This term is known as “going down the up escalator” (Upin) and is used as an attempt to prove global warming does not exist. This is very dangerous because while skeptic’s present…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I agree with Morgan’s claims because writing and singing are outlets for people to express their emotions and issues. I feel that lyrics all have a deeper meaning and purpose to them than just the actual words being said. Morgan makes valid points and explains and addresses…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peter Singer Is Wrong

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Got a minute? Good! Because that may be all it takes to log in to OXFAM.org and virtually save someone’s life. But hold on a second, what about your life? Your own interests? All of the other beneficial things you could do with that money? According to Peter Singer, you don’t really have any choice because you’re “morally obligated” to donate far more resources to famine relief and similar causes than what you currently think is enough, but without sacrificing anything of equivalent moral importance. In this paper I will analyze this argument and try to show that Singer’s conclusions are correct, yet they are not quite as correct as he believes they are. To do so, I will try to show that Singer is wrong to think that we have a “moral obligation”…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Peter Singer Argument

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages

    3. My argument against Singer is that there is a difference between how humans and nonhuman animals suffer. I am in no way trying to devalue animal lives or say that it is just for us to be killing them in the mass amounts that we are. However, it is something that is difficult to compare. This is because humans have a deeper level of understanding and more of an ability to mentally suffer. The author of “The Uniqueness of Human Suffering” reminds us how suffering, like many other emotions, are hard to define since they are abstract and belong to a class of concepts. However, they explain scientifically how suffering happens in the human…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Phil. outline

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages

    IV. Singer gives three ways which a utilitarian condemnation of the treatment of farm animals falls short when entitling we should switch to a vegetarian diet.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peter Singer’s “Down on the Factory Farm” and E.B. White’s “Death of a Pig” illustrate practices of raising animals for human consumption. The care and environment provided for the animals by both White and the factory farmer’s that Singer discusses can be labelled as ‘animal husbandry’. White and the factory farm worker’s animal husbandry methods can be deemed as ethical, or unethical. Bernard E. Rollin defines good animal husbandry as “keeping the animals under conditions to which their natures [are] biologically adapted, and augmenting these natural abilities by providing additional food, protection, care, or shelter” (6). Through this definition of ethics and the criteria established by the “Principles” found in James P. Sterba’s “Reconciling Anthropocentric and Nonanthropocentric…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author argues inherent value. Regan points out animals should be able to experience life with inherent value of their own. Addressing commercial animal agriculture, the author declares "The fundamental moral wrong here is not that animals are kept in stressful close confinement or in isolation, or that their pain and suffering, their needs and preferences are ignored or discounted." Regan continues the only way to right the wrong would be to stop…

    • 684 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Singer’s allegory of the drowning child poses a complicated battle between morals and selfishness. His point that one is morally obligated to save the lives of others puts conflict in their mind. Of course someone will save a drowning child thrown into their path, but whether or not they go out of their way to find the child to save them is entirely different. Singer needs to first recognize where moral obligations come from in order to properly assess what they accomplish. I am morally obligated to go out of my way to help charities, and do, but not everyone else is.…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2. What does Singer mean by saying that all animals are equal? What does he mean by "speciesism," and how is it like racism and sexism?…

    • 1603 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays