Peter Singer Philosopher Quotations

It means that, in fact, it's - whether fascist is the right word I don't know - more of a plutocracy than anything resembling a democracy; it has become a nation controlled by a very small, very wealthy elite.

They tend to be pretty abstract ones then, like doing what will have the best consequences; obviously you wouldn't specify what consequences are best, they may be different in some circumstances, so at a lower, more specific level, you may well get differences.

Bush is morally a universalist. For instance, he says the freedom is good, the same thing is good, all over the world. So in that sense he's a universalist.

Then I think the sense of it being one community breaks down; but if you know instantly and respond within twenty-four hours, it's a very different sort of situation.

Some of the things that I'm trying to do are to strengthen those other forces, and give them a better chance of having some influence.

I might well have written a different book in some respects had I been writing it now. But I wouldn't really go back on things I had said.

I would just like to get him to think about these things; whether what's happening in Iraq is promoting the culture of life. The worry is that he is so certain that he know where he's going to lead the country.

So the compromise itself is within ethics rather than between competing ethics, and I think that's true in geo-political concerns.

As we realise that more and more things have global impact, I think we're going to get people increasingly wanting to get away from a purely national interest.

Since ancient times, philosophers have maintained that to strive too hard for one's own happiness is self-defeating.

Herbert Spencer is little read now. Philosophers do not regard him as a major thinker. Social Darwinism has long been in disrepute.