|
 Building
a home philosophy library
Lyn
May and Steve Deery
The
eighth in a series of articles advising on how to build your own
home philosophy library.
No.
9 Peter Singer, How are we to live?
Singer's
How are we to live? opens by looking at the nature of contemporary
Western society. He comes to the unsurprising conclusion that we
are living in a society driven by consumption, where a successful
life is equated with the amount of money an individual has. To achieve
this kind of 'successful life' the individual must be narrowly self-interested.
Given this dog eat dog view we are left with the question of how
can we justify an ethical stance?
Singer
argues against narrow self-interest and goes on to make a positive
case for ethics. He uses our ability to reason as a platform from
which an ethical life can proceed. Reason, he claims, allows us
to take an external viewpoint. From this perspective we can see
that our interests and concerns are only one among many.
It is from this position that we can take into account others' suffering
and, more importantly, be motivated to help.
The
strength of How are we to live? is in combining a theoretical
justification for ethics with an examination of the ethical implications
of everyday behaviour. As Singer puts it, 'Ethics is practical,
or it is not really ethical. If it is no good in practice then it
is no good in theory either.'
Alongside
the philosophical arguments Singer uses an amazingly wide range
of sources to support his argument. Everything from a Rolling Stones
song, to Primo Levi's account of his experiences in Auschwitz. The
question he leaves you with is: what are you going to do
about it?
How
are we to live? Ethics in the age of self-interest, Peter
Singer (Oxford University Press) £10.99/$20.00
A
new book will be featured at the beginning of August 2001.
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