Biography
Journalists have bestowed on Peter Singer the tag of “world’s most influential living
philosopher.” They are probably thinking of his work on the ethics of humanity’s treatment of
animals, often credited with starting the modern animal rights movement, and of the influence
that his writing has had on the development of effective altruism. He is also known for his
controversial critique of the sanctity of life ethics in bioethics.
In 2021, Peter Singer was delighted to receive the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture.
The citation referred to his “widely influential and intellectually rigorous work in reinvigorating
utilitarianism as part of academic philosophy and as a force for change in the world." The prize
came with $1 million, which, in accordance with views he had been defending for many years,
he donated to the most effective organizations working to assist people in extreme poverty and to
reduce the suffering of animals in factory farms.
He and his wife, Renata, stopped eating meat in 1971 because they recognized that there is no
ethical justification for treating animals as if their interests didn’t count. That realization led him
to write Animal Liberation, first published in 1975. Several key figures in the animal movement
have said that this book led them to get involved in the struggle to reduce the vast amount of
suffering inflicted on animals. To that end, he co-founded the Australian Federation of Animal
Societies, now Animals Australia, the country's largest and most effective animal organization.
He is the founder of The Life You Can Save, an organization based on his book of the same name.
It aims to spread his ideas about why people should be doing much more to improve the lives of
those living in extreme poverty and how they can best do this. His TED talk on this topic is
available online.
His writings in this area include the 1972 essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” in which he
argues for donating to help the global poor, and two books that make the case for effective
giving: The Life You Can Save (2009, 2nd edition 2019) and The Most Good You Can Do (2015).
He has written, co-authored, edited, or co-edited more than 50 books, including Practical Ethics,
The Expanding Circle, Rethinking Life and Death, One World, The Ethics of What We Eat (with
Jim Mason), and The Point of View of the Universe (with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek). His
writings have appeared in more than 30 languages.
He was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1946 and educated at the University of Melbourne and
the University of Oxford. He has taught in England, the United States, and Australia. For 25
years, he was the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human
Values at Princeton University. He now spends his time working on his podcast, his Substack,
and doing research and writing in Melbourne, so that he and Renata can spend time with their
three daughters and four grandchildren. They also enjoy hiking, and he particularly enjoys
surfing.