Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics

Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics

By: Peter Singer  

Buy it now at Amazon.com!

Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Customer Review: 1 out of 5
The collapse of Western Civilization - With Singer's logical lapses and anti-human, anti-humanitarian biases he lead his readers and followers into collapse of Western Civilization as we know it.

It is very scary that this book, and those like it, receive positive feedback. What a tragedy.


P.S. I have heard recently Singer debate live at Biola university and watched him debate on DVD. And while his "performance" based human value may look attractive at first to some, it is dangerously closely to ANY sort of discrimination based on one's performance. Be it mental capacity, desire to live, memory, or whatever. May be we should make census to find out who of 'us' is better qualified to be human than others? Utilitarianism driven assessment of one's performance is used as a rule to measure the 'personhood' of a human being. The biggest irony is that while he uses self-created terms like 'specisism', he himself created the framework of discrimination even greater that what he presumably fights. His discrimination is against weak, unprotected, defenseless individuals. Instead of carrying the burden of compassion, and responsibility, he invites us into easy solution - killing those who need compassion and care. I wonder if we need to fire all psychologists/ psychiatrists/ counselors etc... If person want to die, why treat his depression if we can kill him? Old values collapsed, you know, sick need to be put to death instead of curing them. Interesting... everything gone upside-down.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Another Well-Written Must Read by Singer - I never would have thought that I would come across a work of non-fiction that I couldn't put down, but here it is!

Fascinating and thought provoking, in Rethinking Life and Death, Singer shows how and why the western world has already started moving away from the Judeo-Christian sanctity of human life ethic. He sites the emphasis on 'brain death' and the acceptance of Galileo's discovery that we (humans) are not the center of the universe as the beginnings of the break down of this ethical system.

Singer reports where many western nations currently fall both legally and in mainstream medical practice with regard to controversial topics including abortion, infanticide, stem cell research, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. Furthermore, Singer uses well-reasoned logical arguments to show why these current interpretations of the sanctity of human life ethic are unsustainable.

In the last section of this book, Singer presents a working model for a new quality of life ethic and effortlessly shows how they would apply to situations in which our traditional ethic yields unsatisfactory results. Additionally, Singer shows the practical and moral justification for his most controversial stance - acceptance of infanticide.

One thing I really thought was magnificent about this book is that, while Singer obviously supports a shift to whole-hearted acceptance of a quality of life ethic, he doesn't insist that as a reader you agree with him. Singer leaves perfectly open the door of maintaining a sanctity of (all) life ethic; he just makes sure the reader understands the consequences of such an ethic in its pure and unadulterated form.

Once again, I have to compliment Singer on his amazing writing style. This book really reads more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. At the end of each section I was left on the edge of my seat, wondering what Singer would bring up next! Needless to say, I was never disappointed. Singer has wonderful wit and is equally critical of all sides of the argument. He also includes many telling narratives that make Rethinking Life and Death both entertaining and truly enlightening.

It is in no way surprising that many religious types will condemn this book. After reading Rethinking Life and Death, there is only one reasonable conclusion that one can come to: the Judeo-Christian sanctity of human life ethic is logically and morally indefensible. As individuals we can certainly choose to put our heads in the sand and ignore the problem, but as Singer states, "The question is not whether [the Judeo-Christian sanctity of human life ethic] will be replaced, but what the shape of its successor will be."

Customer Review: 1 out of 5
BEWARE of this man!! - Do you believe this man calls himself a professor of ETHICS?!?

From page 210: "Human babies are not born self-aware, or capable of grasping that they exist over time. THEY ARE NOT PERSONS. Hence their lives would seem to be NO MORE WORTHY OF PROTECTION than the life of a fetus." (emphasis / capitalization added)

From page 217: "In our book, Should the Baby Live?, my colleague Helga Kuhse and I suggested that a period of TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS AFTER BIRTH might be allowed before an infant is accepted as having the SAME RIGHT TO LIFE as others." [page 217 (capitalization added)]
In other words: Infanticide? Sure! Go ahead, Singer says!

Singer also once wrote an article on the practice of BESTIALITY. Called "Heavy Petting," Singer concludes his article by implying that "sex across the species ... ceases to be an offence to our status and dignity as human beings." http://www.nerve.com/Opinions/Singer/heavyPetting/main.asp

What is going on at Princeton that they would continue to have this man representing them?!?

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Another great book by Peter Singer - I am a great fan of Peter Singer and this book has further strengthened my respect for him. The book starts by examining the inconsistencies and weak ethical foundations of the "sanctity of human life" ethic. He provides numerous examples of situations that have occurred since the invention of the respirator in the 1950's where the application of this ethic has led to disastrous outcomes. He describes the many inconsistent and arbitrary "patches" that we have applied to shore up this ethic, concluding that a new ethical standard is needed. He proposes a new ethical framework based upon factors such as quality of life and how the decision to end a life will affect the interests of the individual, family members and society as a whole.

His arguments are clear and well supported and his writing style is lively and easy to read. This book is informative and provocative. I highly recommend it.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
It's refreshing to see an author tackle such topics - Peter Singer is a modern philosopher that's not afraid to drive down some dark moral alleys. In this book, he tackles the topics of brain death, organ harvesting, abortion, infanticide, and animal rights. For the most part, he does a fantastic job of establishing a premise and then logically progressing to a conclusion that may leave our traditional ethics in shambles.

Dr. Singer's arguments related to quality of life, the rights of a fetus, and examining "brain death" for what it really is were persuasive and effective I thought. When he got to discussing the rights of animals as they relate to humans, though, I thought he got a little sloppy. Instead of leading you from A to B to C as he did earlier, he kind of goes from A to C to F, and ignores that there may be a G. His "consciousness equation" that he applies to infants born with only a brain stem, adults in a persistent vegetative state, and gorillas as a case against "speciesism" seems inappropriate and ignores the sum potential of each species. In my opinion, invalid generalizations lead to untenable conclusions.

This is not to say that I believe that animal testing is justifiable or that pro-life advocates that aren't vegans aren't hypocrites: my personal beliefs are beside the point. It just seems that Singer's past as a founder of the Australian Animal Rights Movement betray him a little bit here and reduces the effectiveness of the argument as a whole. It is, however, refreshing to see an author tackle such pregnant topics without fear.

--> Find out more about "Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics" at Amazon.com or Order Now