THX_1138 Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 Peter Singer is a noted australian philosopher who is often regarded as one of the most influential and important philosophers alive. He is an advocate of humanism and to crudely summarize his theories, he suggests that while religion is not the source of morality, he does however advocate that for a successful, fulfilling and "morally just" life, human beings must be a lot more alturistic than they currently are. I was listening to one of his interviews on Point of Inquiry, a forum for discussion amongst skeptics, and promoters of science and inquiry; he postulates that a vegetarian lifestyle (in particular one that does not aquire any food items from factory farmed animals) would not only help end the injustice committed towards animals (who he regards as possessing rights to life just as most human beings do) but also end malnourishment. to ellaborate, and this is really me talking rather than singer, so please do forgive any noncritical factual errors, the ecological footprint of a nonvegetarian human being is considerably higher than a vegetarian human being since the resources and fossil fuels invested in the production of meat products, especially in factory farmed conditions are three to four times higher than those used in the production of an equivalent (by equivalent i mean nutritionally equivalent amont) of grain, vegetables and fruits. i.e. the amount of resources taken to produce a 2000 calorie, balanced meal from meat products are considerably higher than the resources invested in the production of the same calorie, balanced meal from vegetarian sources. moreover, there is no excess baggage of attrocities commited towards human beings. furthermore he suggests that by ignoring the plight of human beings in poor parts of the world, the relatively elite west is virtually committing murder (these are not his exact words, but you get my point). for instance, at a considerably small price to ourselves, about 3-5 dollars a day, an individual in united states can ensure that another human being in parts of africa and south asia can receive a well balanced meal, proper clothing and above all an education; and therefore, every time we spend money we must keep in mind this lost opportunity cost. infact, americans spend several millions of dollars in food and drinks aquired from vending machines every day, an amount that absolutely dwarfs the amount donated to charity, and this is inspite the fact that americans are the most benevolent when it comes to per capita donations to charity. maybe next time you are about to give into the temptation to buy a soda from a vending machine, keep that thought in mind. finally he suggests that the merit of leading a life involved in service of society, protection of the environment, and other forms of volunteer work would outshine the satisfaction of leading a pious life. i, for one, had believed in this before i read his work but since then, my views have been further reinforced. while he does conceed that the high standards that he dictates human beings should aspire for are often too high for most human beings, he does however state that any attempt to reach a higher level of selfless living is a step in the right direction. regretablly he gets panned left right and center since he is also a noted atheist.
f.b.m Posted April 5, 2008 Posted April 5, 2008 Yaay! Someone else head of him! You might want to look up Jared Diamond too. I've read his book "the expanding circle" and it really opened my mind up on the issue of morality. A bridge between evolutionary and sociatal explanations I guess. Do you have a link to the interviews?
THX_1138 Posted April 7, 2008 Author Posted April 7, 2008 Yaay! Someone else head of him! You might want to look up Jared Diamond too. I've read his book "the expanding circle" and it really opened my mind up on the issue of morality. A bridge between evolutionary and sociatal explanations I guess. Do you have a link to the interviews? Actually i have never heard of Jared Diamond but will look him up soon. as for the link, well one way would be to go to the itunes store, run a search for "Point of Inquiry" and then click on the Podcast of point of inquiry, scroll down the list of the episodes and he is right there in the middle. lemme see if i can get you a direct link...
f.b.m Posted April 15, 2008 Posted April 15, 2008 Ehm... I dont have iTunes to open that podcast . Is it worth downloading itunes?
THX_1138 Posted April 16, 2008 Author Posted April 16, 2008 Ehm... I dont have iTunes to open that podcast . Is it worth downloading itunes? iTunes is worth its weight in gold... best way to organize your media... it automatically downloads albumb art and the deluge of free tv shows etcs that you can download, not to mention the plethora of otherwise unavailable podcasts.
The Outsider Posted April 16, 2008 Posted April 16, 2008 Nice read, THX. Had never heard of him earlier, but will surely try to read/listen to some of his stuff around.
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