Ethics in the Real World

A fully updated and expanded edition of Peter Singer’s powerful collection, including 37 new essays.

Free speech and fake news, stopping Putin, pandemic ethics, climate change, extreme poverty, abortion, euthanasia, sports doping, the sale of kidneys, happiness, climbing Mt Everest, the parenting style of elephants, our relationship with kangaroos and colonising space.

One of the world’s most influential philosophers brings clarity, focus and brilliant analysis to a wide range of current real-world ethical matters. These provocative short essays will challenge—and possibly change—the way you think.

Australian philosopher Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and the recipient of the Berggruen Prize for ideas that shape human self-understanding. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason) and The Most Good You Can Do. Singer divides his time between Princeton and Melbourne.

‘Peter Singer’s status as a man of principles and towering intellect—a philosopher extraordinaire, if you will—is unrivalled in Australia.’ Sydney Morning Herald

'Peter Singer may be the most controversial philosopher alive; he is certainly among the most influential.' New Yorker

‘Peter Singer is a public intellectual par excellence.' Monthly

‘Lucidly conceived and written, the brief essays in Ethics in the Real World attest to Singer’s enduring facility for wise, clear-headed enquiry into some of the most pressing issues we face. It is not a manifesto for utilitarianism, but a convincing case for philosophy’s continued engagement with ethical questions that matter in the real world.’ Australian Book Review