Rethinking Life and Death, the collapse of our traditional ethics

273 Pages·1994·4.803 MB·English

by  Peter Singer

R e t h i n k i n q
Life
THE COLLAPSE OF
^ ^ ^ ■ O U R TRADITIONAL ETHICS
A new Copemican revolution is in the ofling,
one that challenges the basic precepts and code of ethics
that have previously governed life and death.
*Brilliantly debunks old concepts and introduces honesty to modern medicoI ethics
Rethinking Life and Death is o blast of fresh thinking thot will attract great
controversy and debate.'
-Oerek Humphry, author of Final Exit
PETER SINGER
THE COLLAPSE
OF OUR TRADITIONAL ETHICS
‘Brilliantly debunks old concepts and introduces
honesty to modem medical ethics. Rethinking
Life and Death is a blast of fresh
thinking that will attract
great controversy
and debate.”
—Derek Humphry, Author of Final Exit
E T E R S I N G E R
f
ISBN-0-312-11880-5 $22.95
$29.99 Can.
Rethinking Life and Death is a book that only
the distinguished philosopher Peter Singer
could write—a book that creates nothing less
than a new set of ethics for the next century.
Singer shows just why our traditional ethic of
life and death is collapsing all around us—
but instead of lamenting the fact, as tradition­
al moralists do, he sees it as an opportunity to
move forward to a more soundly based
approach.
In discussing themes like euthanasia, brain
death, abortion, and the treatment of patients
in a persistent vegetative state, Singer boldly
discards the old rhetoric and meaningless
cliches about the sanctity of human life.
Instead he produces a fresh account of when
life should be regarded as precious and worth
preserving, and when it should not be.
Using provocative case studies, Singer vivid­
ly describes the break-up of our current ethic
of life and death. He asks penetrating questions
like:
• What are the results of the classic Dutch
experiment with voluntary euthanasia? What
are its implications for the future and will a
similar system work in the United States?
• Is the definition of death in terms of “brain
death” a medical judgment? Or is it an ethical
choice based on our need for organs and the
emotional and financial futility of keeping
human beings in this state alive?
• Why do we consider it wrong to take organs
from a baby born without a brain, but accept­
able to take them from an ape?

R E T H I N K I N G
L I F E & D E A T H
BY THE SAME A U T H O R
Democracy and Disobedience
Animal Liberation
Practical Ethics
Marx
Animal Factories (with Jim Mason)
The Expanding Circle
Hegel
The Reproduction Revolution (with Deane Wells)
Should the Baby Live? (with Helga Kuhse)
Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide (with Lori Gruen)
Save the Animals! (with Barbara Dover and Ingrid Newkirk)
How Are We to Live?
The Great Ape Project (editor with Paola Cavalieri)
R E T H I N K I N G
L I F E & D E A T H
The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics
P E T E R S I NGE R
St. Martin’s Press
New York
rethinking life & death. Copyright © 1994 by Peter Singer. All
rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For
information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010.
ISBN 0-312-11880-5
First published in Australia by The Text Publishing Company
First U.S. Edition: April 1995
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Helga Kuhse, with thanks for fourteen years
as a friend and colleague in which we have
together rethought the ethics of life and death.