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Peter Singer

Peter Singer

Writing for PS since 2001
217 commentaries
1 videos & podcasts

Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, is Founder of the nonprofit organization The Life You Can Save. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), Rethinking Life and Death, The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, The Most Good You Can Do, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, One World Now, Ethics in the Real World, Why Vegan?, and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, also with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. In April 2021, W.W. Norton published his new edition of Apuleius’s The Golden Ass. In 2013, he was named the world's third "most influential contemporary thinker" by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.

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  1. Will the Catholic Church Rethink Contraception?
    singer215_JIM WATSONAFP via Getty Images_birth control JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

    Will the Catholic Church Rethink Contraception?

    Mar 7, 2023 Peter Singer welcomes the Vatican’s long-overdue openness to theological questioning of an outdated doctrine

  2. Quitting While on Top
    singer214_MARTY MELVILLEAFP via Getty Images_ardern hipkins MARTY MELVILLE/AFP via Getty Images

    Quitting While on Top

    Feb 10, 2023 Peter Singer considers why popular political leaders and champion athletes walk away at the peak of their careers.

  3. In Defense of the Art-Targeting Climate Activists
    singer213_CARLOS JASSOAFP via Getty Images_climateprotestart Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty Images

    In Defense of the Art-Targeting Climate Activists

    Jan 3, 2023 Peter Singer shows why eco-activists can properly claim that their non-violent civil disobedience is justified.

  4. Has the FTX Debacle Discredited Effective Altruism?
    singer212_Alex WongGetty Images_sam bankman-fried Alex Wong/Getty Images

    Has the FTX Debacle Discredited Effective Altruism?

    Nov 23, 2022 Peter Singer argues that Sam Bankman-Fried's alleged financial malpractice was an unjustified means to a laudable end.

  5. Free Speech for Whom?
    singer211_ Iranian Supreme Leader Press OfficeHandoutAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_khamenei Iranian Supreme Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    Free Speech for Whom?

    Nov 7, 2022 Peter Singer unpacks Elon Musk’s reference, after purchasing Twitter, to promoting “healthy debate” on the platform.

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  1. bildt109_JAAFAR ASHTIYEHAFP via Getty Images_israelpalestinewestbank Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images
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    Hell in the Holy Land

    Carl Bildt fears that the stage is set for another major violent conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
  2. strain11_Chip SomodevillaGetty Images_fed Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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    The Fed Must Not Flinch

    Michael R. Strain urges the US central bank to continue raising interest rates, despite signs of financial-sector fragility.
  3. sheng135_Carl CourtGetty Images_maldivesclimatechange Carl Court/Getty Images
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    Reimagining Development

    Andrew Sheng & Xiao Geng argue that grassroots engagement and social enterprise are crucial to achieving countries' aspirations.
  4. goldberg22_ERIC BARADATAFP via Getty Images_world bank ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images
    1

    What the World Bank Can Do About Climate Change

    Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg explains how the institution can maximize its contribution to the global net-zero agenda.
  5. GettyImages-1171447879
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    Richard Haass on Russia, Taiwan, and US democracy

    Richard Haass explains what caused the Ukraine war, urges the West to scrutinize its economic dependence on China, proposes ways to reverse the dangerous deterioration of democracy in America, and more.
  6. buiter45_Jabin BotsfordThe Washington Post via Getty Image_jeromepowell Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
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    Price Stability vs. Financial Stability?

    Willem H. Buiter

    If the US Federal Reserve raises its policy interest rate by as much as is necessary to rein in inflation, it will most likely further depress the market value of the long-duration securities parked on many banks' balance sheets. So be it.

     thinks central banks can achieve both, despite the occurrence of a liquidity crisis amid high inflation.
  7. frankel145_ Richard Baker In Pictures via Getty Images_exchangerates Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images
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    Fifty Years of Floating Currencies

    Jeffrey Frankel

    The half-century since the official demise of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates has shown the benefits of what replaced it. While some may feel nostalgic for the postwar monetary system, its collapse was inevitable, and what looked like failure has given rise to a remarkably resilient regime.

     explains why the shift toward exchange-rate flexibility after 1973 was not a policy failure, as many believed.
  8. harrington34_Drew AngererGetty Images_avril haines Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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    What Do America’s Spies Really Think About China?

    Kent Harrington thinks the intelligence community’s annual threat assessment should have delved deeper on the issue.
  9. grafton2_ SIMON MAINAAFP via Getty Images_water SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images
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    Waking Up to the World’s Water Crisis

    Quentin Grafton, et al. see three overarching priorities for the first global water conference in almost a half-century.

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