Publisher Description

'Imagine that you could choose a book that everyone in the world would read. My choice would be this book.' Roger Crisp, Ethics Many people have an uneasy feeling that they may be missing out on something basic that would give their lives a significance it currently lacks. But how should we live? What is there to stop us behaving selfishly? In a highly readable account which makes reference to a wide variety of sources and everydayissues, Peter Singer suggests that the conventional pursuit of self-interest is individually and collectively self-defeating. Taking into consideration the beliefs of Jesus, Kant, Rousseau, and Adam Smithamongst others, he looks at a number of different cultures, including America, Japan, and the Aborigines to assess whether or not selfishness is in our genes and how we may find greater satisfaction in an ethical lifestyle.

Notes

Argues that the conventional pursuit of self- interests is individually and collectively self-defeating. By the author of A New Ethics For Our Treatment Of Animals.

Author Biography

Peter Singer is currently Professor of Philosophy, Co-Director of the Institute of Ethics and Public Affairs, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University, Melbourne.

Table of Contents

1: The ultimate choice2: `What's in it for me?'3: Using up the world4: How we came to be living this way5: Is selfishness in our genes?6: How the Japanese live7: Tit for Tat8: Living ethically9: The nature of ethics10: Living to some purpose11: The good lifeNotesIndex

Review

Imagine that you could choose a book that everyone in the world would read. My choice would be this book. Roger Crisp, Ethics highly successful. it tackles questions of the first importance, it is immensely readable - being packed with anecdotes and illustrations - and it forces its readers to reflect on how they live their lives Journal of Applied Philosophy

Long Description

'Imagine that you could choose a book that everyone in the world would read. My choice would be this book.' Roger Crisp, Ethics Many people have an uneasy feeling that they may be missing out on something basic that would give their lives a significance it currently lacks. But how should we live? What is there to stop us behaving selfishly? In a highly readable account which makes reference to a wide variety of sources and everydayissues, Peter Singer suggests that the conventional pursuit of self-interest is individually and collectively self-defeating. Taking into consideration the beliefs of Jesus, Kant, Rousseau, and Adam Smithamongst others, he looks at a number of different cultures, including America, Japan, and the Aborigines to assess whether or not selfishness is in our genes and how we may find greater satisfaction in an ethical lifestyle.

Review Quote

Imagine that you could choose a book that everyone in the world would read. My choice would be this book.

Details