Peter Singer

Peter David Albert Singer is an Australian moral philosopher based at Princeton University. He is described as a “radical utilitarian” in his beliefs and academic work.

He is editor of the Journal of Controversial Ideas, a forum for academics to publish peer-reviewed articles under a pseudonym.¹⁾ He is also a regular contributor to Project Syndicate and The Conversation,^{2) 3)} and is represented by the HarperCollins Speakers Bureau.⁴⁾

Singer is President of Animal Rights International, a Vice-President of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a member of the Leadership Council of Oxfam America, and a member of the Advisory Board of GiveWell.⁵⁾

Singer's maternal grandfather David Oppenheim was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and perished in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, unable to join family who had fled to Australia.

In April 1973, Singer's article titled “Animal Liberation” was published in the New York Review.⁶⁾ He acted as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from May-December 1979.⁷⁾

He was appointed Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University in 1999. Starting in 2001, Singer began contributing to Project Syndicate.

Singer left the United States in 2019, continuing to teach his students online.

Singer is considered “controversial” for his arguments in support of active euthanasia, sparking “notorious” debate.⁸⁾ He advocates for infanticide in certain circumstances, such as in the case of parents choosing to end the life of a child with a disability.⁹⁾ He strongly advocates for vegetarianism. Diane Coleman, the head of Not Dead Yet, once called him “the most dangerous man on Earth”.

Singer is cited as the originator of effective altruism, and is credited for turning Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Nicholas Berggruen onto the approach to philanthropy.

In 2017, Singer co-authored an article on the topic of population control.¹⁰⁾

Singer criticized Australia's government for relying too heavily on the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine product, and for failing to build enough quarantine facilities such as the Howard Springs mandatory supervised quarantine facility in Darwin, New South Wales.¹¹⁾

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