01 / Reading Guide
Reading Guide
Citation
Singer, P. (2023). Ethics in the Real World: 90 Essays on Things That Matter (fully updated and expanded ed.). Princeton University Press.
Chapter Summary
Context and Argument
The book collects ninety short essays in which Singer applies his ethical approach to issues in the news and to some of the large questions of philosophy. The publisher describes it as showing that he can dissect current events in a few hundred words. This edition is fully updated and expanded: thirty-seven of the essays are new, and the others have been updated, so it is a substantial revision of the earlier edition of 2016, which had 82 essays. Each essay runs to roughly three to seven pages, and they are arranged in thirteen thematic sections. The essays have no shared thesis; what binds them is a method of reasoning from clearly stated principles, often those of impartial concern for the interests of all affected, and a willingness to follow the argument to unpopular conclusions. A few essays are written with co-authors, among them Agata Sagan and Michael Plant, and a Sources section at the end records where each first appeared.
Introduction
An eight-page introduction precedes the essays. The publisher also notes some more personal pieces, such as Singer's reflections on surfing and a suggestion for starting a family conversation over a holiday feast.
Big Questions
Ten essays on the largest questions: "A Pale Blue Dot at the Hinge of History," "Does Anything Matter?," "Is There Moral Progress?," "The God of Suffering," "Do You Have a Moral Plan?," "Are We Ready for a 'Morality Pill'?," "The Empathy Trap," "Can Ethics Be Taught?," "Thinking about the Dead" and "Should This Be the Last Generation?" They cover whether morality is objective, whether it progresses, the role of emotion and empathy in ethical life, and the value of human existence.
Animals
Ten essays: "The Case for Going Vegan," "Why Loving Our Animals Is Not Enough," "Learning from Europe's More Ethical Eggs," "If Fish Could Scream," "The Nation of Kangaroos," "Who Is a Person?," "The Cow Who . . .," "The Measure of Moral Progress," "Are Insects Conscious?" and "Plant Liberation?" This section returns to the subject of Animal Liberation in a shorter form, and extends it to fish, insects and plants.
Life and Death
Eight essays on abortion, newborns, euthanasia and the end of life, including "The Real Abortion Tragedy," "Abortion, Democracy, and the Reversal of Roe," "Treating (or Not) the Tiniest Babies," "Pulling Back the Curtain on the Mercy Killing of Newborns," "Should Children Have the Right to Die?," "No Diseases for Old Men," "When Doctors Kill" and "Choosing Death." They develop Singer's challenge to the sanctity-of-life ethic.
Public Health and Pandemic Ethics
Eight essays on public health, genetics and the pandemic: "Public Health versus Private Freedom," "The Human Genome and the Genetic Supermarket," "An Ethical Pathway for Gene Editing," "Kidneys for Sale?," "Deciding Who Lives and Who Dies," "Were the Lockdowns Justified?," "Victims of the Unvaccinated" and "Ending the Taboo on Talking about Population."
Sex and Gender
Six essays, including "Should Adult Sibling Incest Be a Crime?," "Homosexuality Is Not Immoral," "A Private Affair?," "How Much Should Sex Matter?," "Ban the Burkini?" and "The Case for Legalizing Sex Work."
Doing Good
Six essays on charity and effective giving: "Holding Charities Accountable," "Good Charity, Bad Charity," "Heartwarming Causes Are Nice, But . . .," "The Ethical Cost of High-Priced Art," "Extreme Altruism" and "The Lives You Saved." These sit on the theme of his The Life You Can Save.
Happiness
Six essays on well-being: "Happiness, Money, and Giving It Away," "Can We Increase Gross National Happiness?," "The Moral Urgency of Mental Health," "Prisoners of Pain," "No Smile Limit" and "Happy, Nevertheless."
Politics
Eight essays on political questions, among them "The Founding Fathers' Fiscal Crisis," "Why Vote?," "Is Citizenship a Right?," "The Spying Game," "Is Marx Still Relevant?," "Should We Honor Racists?," "Is Violence the Way to Fight Racism?" and "Are Riots Justifiable?"
Global Problems
Five essays: "The Refugee Dilemma," "Is Open Diplomacy Possible?," "Paris and the Fate of the Earth," "Greta Thunberg's Moment" and "Stopping Putin."
Science and Technology
Four essays: "A Clear Case for Golden Rice," "Life Made to Order," "A Dream for the Digital Age" and "The Tragic Cost of Being Unscientific."
Freedom and Responsibility
Four essays on speech: "Free Speech, Muhammad, and the Holocaust," "Free Speech and Fake News," "Why Google Was Wrong" and "Keeping Discussion Free."
Living, Working, Playing
Eight essays on everyday and personal ethics, from "Why Pay More?," "Beyond the Traditional Family" and "Tiger Mothers or Elephant Mothers?" to "How Honest Are We?," "Is Doping Wrong?," "Is It OK to Cheat at Football?," "Why Climb Mount Everest?" and "A Surfing Reflection."
The Future
Seven essays on what lies ahead: "Should We Live to 1,000?," "Rights for Robots?," "Can Artificial Intelligence Be Ethical?," "Do You Want to Be a Cyborg?," "Preventing Human Extinction," "Should We Colonize Outer Space?" and "Do Aliens Have Rights?"
Key Concepts
Big Questions and Animals
- Moral progress: the question whether, and by what measure, moral thinking has improved over time.
- Equal consideration beyond the human: the extension of moral concern to animals, with essays on fish, insects and even plants.
Life, Death and Public Health
- Challenge to the sanctity of life: the argument that not all human life has the same claim to protection.
- Public health versus private freedom: the balance of individual liberty and collective welfare, tested on pandemic measures.
Doing Good, Happiness, Politics and the Future
- Effective giving: the claim that donors should look at the results of what they fund.
- Happiness as an aim of policy: the questions raised by national happiness and mental health.
- Existential and technological risk: essays on extinction, artificial intelligence and enhancement.
Critical Analysis
Strengths
- Very accessible. Each essay is short, self-contained and written for a general audience, so it works as a first contact with a topic or a class discussion starter.
- Thorough thematic arrangement. Thirteen sections and a detailed contents list let a reader find the essays on a topic directly.
- Current. The 2023 contents include essays on the pandemic, the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Greta Thunberg and the war in Ukraine, and thirty-seven essays are new to this edition.
- A clear and consistent method. Reading across the sections shows one way of reasoning applied to very different issues, which makes it easy to see how its assumptions drive the conclusions.
Limitations
- Brevity. At three to seven pages an essay, arguments are compressed and objections are mentioned more than answered. The collection is a starting point for debate, not the full argument.
- One theoretical standpoint. The essays share Singer's consequentialist outlook, so readers looking for a range of positions on the same topics need other sources.
- News-linked material ages. Essays tied to particular events or controversies will date, even in an updated edition.
- Very wide scope. Ninety essays across thirteen areas give breadth but little depth on any one area, and the order of sections is topical rather than cumulative.
Where It Fits in the Course
This is the most accessible Singer title in the course and a good first book of applied ethics. The Applied Ethics anthology offers academic papers by many authors on several of the same topics, and is a harder, more varied companion. For animals, the ten essays here are a short update to Animal Liberation, and can be set beside Regan's Empty Cages and Cochrane's Animal Rights Without Liberation for rights-based alternatives. "Plant Liberation?" makes a useful contrast with Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass. The Doing Good section is a brief companion to The Life You Can Save, and the essay on the reversal of Roe v. Wade and others on life and death connect with the topics in Applied Ethics.
How to Use This Book
No background is needed. Treat it as a collection to dip into: choose sections by topic, read an essay, then try writing a one-paragraph reply that states the strongest objection. Within a course, the Big Questions and Animals sections suit the opening weeks, and Doing Good and the Future suit discussions of obligation and risk.
Because the essays are brief, follow up with longer works when a topic matters to you: Animal Liberation on animals, The Life You Can Save on giving, and the academic papers in Applied Ethics. Check the Sources section to see when each essay first appeared, and keep in mind that circumstances may have changed since.