Editing Peter Singer (section)

=== Animal liberation and speciesism ===
[[File:Peter Singer no Fronteiras do Pensamento São Paulo 2013 (9733467088).jpg|thumb|Singer in [[São Paulo]] in 2013]]
Published in 1975, ''[[Animal Liberation (book)|Animal Liberation]]'' has been cited as a formative influence on leaders of the modern [[animal liberation movement]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thankingthemonkey.com/about_karen_dawn.php |title=Karen Dawn's Biography |publisher=ThankingTheMonkey.com |access-date=28 October 2018 |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924063638/http://www.thankingthemonkey.com/about_karen_dawn.php |url-status=live}}</ref> The central argument of the book is an expansion of the [[utilitarian]] concept that "the greatest good of the greatest number" is the only measure of good or ethical behaviour, and Singer believes that there is no reason not to apply this principle to other animals, arguing that the boundary between human and "animal" is completely arbitrary. For example, there are far more differences between a [[great ape]] and an [[oyster]] than between a human and a great ape, and yet the former two are lumped together as "animals", whereas we are considered "human" in a way that supposedly differentiates us from all other "animals". He popularised the term "[[speciesism]]", which had been coined by English writer [[Richard D. Ryder]] to describe the practice of privileging humans over other animals, and therefore argues in favour of the equal consideration of interests of all sentient beings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Waldau |first1=Paul |title=The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514571-7 |pages=5, 23–29}}</ref>

In ''Animal Liberation'', Singer argues in favour of [[vegetarianism]] and against most [[Animal testing|animal experimentation]]. He stated in a 2006 interview that he does not eat meat and that he has been a vegetarian since 1971. He also said that he has "gradually become increasingly [[Veganism|vegan]]" and that "I am largely vegan but I'm a flexible vegan. I don't go to the supermarket and buy non-vegan stuff for myself. But when I'm traveling or going to other people's places I will be quite happy to eat vegetarian rather than vegan."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gilson |first=Dave |title=Chew the Right Thing |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2006/05/chew-right-thing/ |access-date=2023-03-20 |website=Mother Jones |language=en-US |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217233456/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2006/05/chew-right-thing/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2022, Singer stated that he is not fully vegan because he occasionally consumes [[oyster]]s, [[mussel]]s, and [[clam]]s due to their lack of a central nervous system.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kyung-mi |first=Lee |date=9 August 2022 |title=Why go vegan? Peter Singer answers |url=https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/1054101.html |access-date=2023-03-20 |website=[[The Hankyoreh]] |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320233642/https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/1054101.html |url-status=live}}</ref> According to Singer, [[Ethics of eating meat|meat-eating can be ethically permissible]] if "farms really give the animals good lives, and then humanely kill them, preferably without transporting them to slaughterhouses or disturbing them. In ''Animal Liberation'', I don't really say that it's the killing that makes [meat-eating] wrong, it's the suffering."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Eaton |first=George |date=2021-05-26 |title=Peter Singer: Why the case for veganism is stronger than ever |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2021/05/peter-singer-why-case-veganism-stronger-ever |access-date=2023-03-20 |website=New Statesman |language=en-US |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320233648/https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2021/05/peter-singer-why-case-veganism-stronger-ever |url-status=live}}</ref>

In an article for the online publication [[Chinadialogue]], Singer called Western-style meat production cruel, unhealthy, and damaging to the ecosystem.<ref>{{cite news |last=Singer |first=Peter |date=30 August 2006 |title=The ethics of eating |url=https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/326-The-ethics-of-eating |access-date=28 October 2018 |newspaper=[[China Dialogue]] |archive-date=26 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626090224/https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/326-The-ethics-of-eating |url-status=live}}</ref> He rejected the idea that the method was necessary to meet the population's increasing demand, explaining that animals in [[factory farm]]s have to eat food grown explicitly for them, and they burn up most of the food's energy just to breathe and keep their bodies warm. In a 2010 ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' article he titled, "Fish: the forgotten victims on our plate", Singer drew attention to the welfare of fish. He quoted author Alison Mood's startling statistics from a report she wrote, which was released on fishcount.org.uk just a month before the ''Guardian'' article. Singer states that she "has put together what may well be the first-ever systematic estimate of the size of the annual global capture of wild fish. It is, she calculates, in the order of one trillion, although it could be as high as 2.7tn."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/sep/14/fish-forgotten-victims |title=Fish: the forgotten victims on our plate |date=14 September 2010 |work=The Guardian |access-date=28 October 2018 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=28 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228165247/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/sep/14/fish-forgotten-victims |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.fishcount.org.uk/published/standard/fishcountfullrptSR.pdf |title=Worse things happen at sea: the welfare of wild-caught fish |last=Mood |first=Alison |publisher=fishcount.org.uk |year=2010 |access-date=28 October 2018 |archive-date=18 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818003057/http://www.fishcount.org.uk/published/standard/fishcountfullrptSR.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|Singer erroneously quotes the estimated number of fish as tonnage rather than a count of individuals. The actual range is 970 billion to 2.7 trillion individual fish, approximated from the total catch of 77 million tons.}}

Some chapters of ''Animal Liberation'' are dedicated to criticising testing on animals. Unlike groups such as [[PETA]], Singer is willing to accept testing when there is a clear benefit for medicine. In November 2006, Singer appeared on the BBC programme ''Monkeys, Rats and Me: Animal Testing'' and said that he felt that [[Tipu Aziz]]'s experiments on monkeys for research into treating Parkinson's disease could be justified.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mangan |first=Lucy |date=28 November 2006 |location=London |newspaper=The Guardian |title=Last night's TV |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/nov/28/animalwelfare.television |access-date=28 October 2018 |archive-date=15 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515014711/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/nov/28/animalwelfare.television |url-status=live}}</ref> Whereas Singer has continued since the publication of ''Animal Liberation'' to promote vegetarianism and veganism, he has been much less vocal in recent years on the subject of animal experimentation. Singer has defended some of the actions of the [[Animal Liberation Front]] such as the stealing of footage from Thomas Gennarelli's laboratory in May 1984 (as shown in the documentary ''[[Unnecessary Fuss]]'') but condemned other actions such as the use of explosives by some animal-rights activists, and sees the freeing of captive animals as largely futile when they are easily replaced.<ref>{{cite book |last=Singer |first=Peter |date=2011a |title=Practical Ethics |edition=3rd |location= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=274 |isbn=978-1-139-49689-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Singer |first=Peter |year=2015 |title=Animal Liberation |location= |publisher=Random House |page=xxix |isbn=978-1-4735-2442-2 |chapter=Preface |edition=revised}}</ref> Singer features in the 2017 documentary ''Empathy'', directed by Ed Antoja, which aims to promote a more respectful way of life towards all animals. The documentary won the "Public Choice Award" of the Greenpeace Film Festival.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Projection de film : Empathy (Complet) |url=https://www.vegevents.com/events/projection-de-film-empathy-complet/ |access-date=2021-05-13 |website=VegEvents |language=en-US |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514214410/https://www.vegevents.com/events/projection-de-film-empathy-complet/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Singer has frequently collaborated on op-eds and otherwise with animal rights advocate [[Karen Dawn]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Singer |first1=Peter |last2=Dawn |first2=Karen |title=Op-Ed: Harambe the gorilla dies, meat-eaters grieve |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-singer-dawn-harambe-death-zoo-20160605-snap-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=5 June 2016 |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=1 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101141856/https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-singer-dawn-harambe-death-zoo-20160605-snap-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kateman |first1=Brian |title=How to stop cruel factory farming: start with one animal |url=https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/6/19/15827828/factory-farming-switchetarian-beef-chicken |work=Vox |date=19 June 2017 |language=en |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=1 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101141856/https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/6/19/15827828/factory-farming-switchetarian-beef-chicken |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Singer |first1=Peter |last2=Dawn |first2=Karen |title=Op-Ed: Thinking of giving up red meat? Half measures may end up increasing animal suffering |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-singer-dawn-vegetarian-half-measures-20161016-snap-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=16 October 2016 |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=1 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101141855/https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-singer-dawn-vegetarian-half-measures-20161016-snap-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>