Vox Conversations

Can we live a good life in a world where animals are factory farmed? Guest host Dylan Matthews talks with the world-famous ethicist Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation Now, the newly revised edition of his movement-founding 1975 work. They talk about the progress made by the animal rights movement — and the issues it still faces. Dylan also questions Singer on other aspects of his career as an outspoken popularizer of philosophy and ethics, including his positions on physician-assisted dying, abortion rights, and effective altruism.

Host: Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Guest: Peter Singer (@PeterSinger), Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University; author

References: 

• Animal Liberation Nowby Peter Singer (Harper Perennial; 2023), an updated version of Animal Liberation by Peter Singer (HarperCollins; 1975)
• Peter Singer Live on Stage: tickets and more info
• “Animal Liberation” by Peter Singer (New York Review of Books, Apr. 5, 1973)
• Unsanctifying Human Life: Essays on Ethics by Peter Singer (Wiley-Blackwell; 2002)
• Practical Ethicsby Peter Singer (Cambridge; 1979)
• “Unspeakable Conversations” by Harriet McBryde Johnson (NYT Magazine; Feb. 16, 2003)
• “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” by Peter Singer (Philosophy & Public Affairs, vol. 1 no. 3; Spring, 1972)
• Giving What We Can
• Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)
• “Sam Bankman-Fried tries to explain himself” by Kelsey Piper (Vox; Nov. 16, 2022)
• The St. Petersburg Paradox
• Henry Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics(1874)
• Moral Thinking by R.M. Hare (Oxford; 1982)
• Ethics and the Limits of Philosophyby Bernard Williams (Harvard; 1986)

Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

This episode was made by: 

• Producer: Erikk Geannikis
• Engineer: Patrick Boyd
• Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices