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It is an honour for the Oxford PPE Society to welcome Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. Dubbed the “world’s most influential living philosopher”, Singer has worked prolifically in the field of ethics and is credited with single-handedly starting the animal rights movement, having developed for the first time the philosophy of animal rights in 1975 with his book "Animal Liberation".

Following from this, he has worked tirelessly to alleviate the suffering we inflict on animals, founding Australia’s largest and most effective animal organization, Animals Australia, and advocating for veganism and ethical eating for nearly half a century. Fascinatingly, it was while he was a graduate student at the University of Oxford that he was first inspired to take up a vegetarian lifestyle.

In addition to animal rights, Singer has written widely-read works on alleviating poverty, helping to provide the fundamental philosophical basis to the Effective Altruism movement. He has argued in the past that, for most of us, the efforts we make to ameliorate poverty almost always fall short of our moral duty, and he proposes a more effective way of helping those suffering the most. He has published over 50 books, including general books on ethics, as well as introductory texts on a wide variety of topics and thinkers, making his contribution to modern philosophy unparalleled.

He joins us to talk about his work in philosophy, recognition of which has led to Penguin publishing his latest book Why Vegan? in their Great Ideas Series, placing him next to thinkers that have defined the current era and shaped our intellectual history. It is a privilege for us to speak to him the day before the publication of his book, and for him to give us a special preview as to its contents which are sure to include compelling arguments for such a change of lifestyle. As movements like vegetarianism and veganism grow in both importance and popularity, now again the case needs to be stated for what we as individuals can do to live a truly ethical life.

Even before the publication of his seminal Animal Liberation in 1975, Peter Singer, one of the greatest moral philosophers of our time, unflinchingly challenged the ethics of eating animals. Now, in Why Vegan?, Singer brings together the most consequential essays of his career to make this devastating case against our failure to confront what we are doing to animals, to public health, and to our planet.

Pre-order the book on Amazon