This is philosophy bites, with me, Nigel.
Warburton, and me, David Edmonds.
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He'S arguably the world's most famous living philosopher, known especially for his contributions to debates about poverty and animal welfare, to these and to all the other areas he's written about.
Peter Singer, recent winner of the Bergruen Prize, brings a very consistent consequentialism.
Peter Singer, welcome to philosophy Bites.
Thank you, Nigel.
It's good to be with you again.
The topic we're going to talk about is consequentialism.
To me, it seems that's right at the heart of everything that you do.
Could you say broadly what consequentialism is?
Consequentialism is the view that whether an action is right depends on its consequences.
So in thinking about how we ought to live, we should be focusing on the consequences of the way we're living.
So the most important philosophical question seems to me and to most people, is, how should we live?
And if the answer is we should bring about the best consequences, that's different from what is said in many traditions, which is we should be the best kind of people we can be.
Yes, it is different from other traditions, both those that say we should be the best person we can be, and from those who say there are certain rules that we should follow and we should never violate those rules.
Consequentialism is a break with those different.
Ethical traditions, and it's quite radical in some of its conclusions.