Peter Singer is Keynote Speaker for 2016-2017 Markets and Morals Series at W&L
Peter Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and a Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne, is the keynote speaker for the 2016–17 Markets and Morals series, sponsored by the Roger Mudd Center for Ethics at Washington and Lee University. The event will be Oct. 6 at 5 p.m. in Lee Chapel at W&L.
Singer will speak on “Permitting the Sale of Meat But Not Kidneys or Sex? Some Questions About Markets and Morals.” He specializes in applied ethics and approaches ethic issues from a utilitarian standpoint. The talk is free and open to the public and will also be broadcast live online.
Since 1975, he has written, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 40 books, including “Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter” (2016); “The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically” (2015); and “The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty” (2009).
Singer first became internationally known after the publication of his book “Animal Liberation” (1975), which is one of the intellectual foundations of the modern animal-rights movement.
In 2005, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. In 2011, Time included “Animal Liberation” on its “All-TIME” list of the 100-best nonfiction books published in English. In 2012, he was named a Companion of the Order of Australia, the nation’s highest civic honor.
The Mudd Center was established in 2010 through a gift to the university from award-winning journalist Roger Mudd, a 1950 graduate of W&L. When he made his gift, Mudd said that “given the state of ethics in our current culture, this seems a fitting time to endow a center for the study of ethics, and my university is the fitting home.”
For full details of this series and the names and dates of the lecturers, visit: https://www.wlu.edu/mudd-center/programs-and-events/2016-2017-markets-and-morals.
