A slideshow for an introductory course in ethics.

1. Peter Singer
Practical Ethics
Preface
1. About Ethics

2. Preface vii - ix
“We can find ethical ramifications in most of
our choices.” (viiT2f)
He questions whether “freedom of thought
and expression can be taken for granted in
liberal democracies today.” (viiiT11f)
“Comparing, and in some cases equating, the
lives of humans and animals is exactly what
this book is about.” (ixT11ff)

3. x - xiii
He advocates “the consequentialist
approach” (xB10f)
His theory incorporates a distinction between
intuitive and critical levels of moral
reasoning. (xB5f)
There is one version of utilitarianism,
preference utilitarianism, that applies both to
persons and non-persons. (xiT1ff)

4. 1 About Ethics 1 - 3
“...the whole point of ethical judgments is to
guide practice.” (2B15f)
He contrasts the deontologists and the
consequentialists. (3Tff)
“...a utilitarian can never properly be accused
of a lack of realism, or of a rigid adherence
to ideals in defiance of practical
experience.” (3T17ff)

5. 4-8
His ethic isn’t about sexual morality; it doesn’t
require belief in God; it denies that ethics is
relative or subjective. (passim)
He sides with C.L. Stevenson, R.M. Hare and
J.L. Mackie in denying that ethical judgments
are true or false. (7)
But reason and argument still have a role.
(8)

6. 9 - 11
One makes an ethical judgment when one
believes that the judgment is right for some
reason that isn’t about self-interest but
about “something bigger than the
individual”. (10)
He recommends the Golden Rule as this
`something bigger’, aligning himself on this
point with Jesus, the Stoics, Hume, Kant,
Smart, and Rawls. (11)

7. 12 - 13
“The universal aspect of ethics, I suggest,
does provide a persuasive, although not
conclusive, reason for taking a broadly
utilitarian position.” (12B8ff)
“In place of my own interests, I now have to
take into account the interests of all those
affected by my decision.” (13T17ff)

8. Frankena, Morality and
Moral Philosophy
“...we must not let our decision be
determined by our emotions, but must
examine the question and follow the best
reasoning.” (4T2ff)
“...we cannot answer such questions by
appealing to what people generally
think.” (4T6f)

9. 4-6
“We must think for ourselves.” (4T8)
“...we ought never to do what is morally
wrong.” (4T8f)

10. Plato, Crito
“And yet what could be more shameful than
a reputation for valuing money more highly
than friends?” (9T3f)
“Ah, Crito, if only the populace *could* inflict
the worst of evils!” (9T15f)

11. 13 - 15
“Or do we consider the element to which
justice or injustice belongs, whichever part
of us it is, to be of less value than the
body?”
“We should attach the highest value,
shouldn’t we, not to living, but to living
well?” (13B19f)

12. 16 - 18
“Do you think that a city can still exist
without being overturned, if the legal
judgments rendered within it possess no
force, but are nullified or invalidated by
individuals?” (16T2ff)
“We do say, however, that if any of you
remains here after he has observed the
system by which we dispense justice and
otherwise manage our city, then he has
agreed with us by his conduct to obey
whatever orders we give him.” (17B4ff)