Introduction ix Acknowledgments xv Big Questions The Value of a Pale Blue Dot 3 Does Anything Matter? 6 Is There Moral Progress? 9 God and Suffering, Again 12 Godless Morality (with Marc Hauser) 15 Are We Ready for a "Morality Pill"? (with Agata Sagan) 19 The Quality of Mercy 23 Thinking about the Dead 27 Should This Be the Last Generation? 31 Philosophy on Top 35 Animals Europe's Ethical Eggs 41 If Fish Could Scream 44 Cultural Bias against Whaling? 47 A Case for Veganism 50 Consider the Turkey: Thoughts for Thanksgiving 55 In Vitro Meat 60 Chimpanzees Are People, Too 63 The Cow Who ... 66 Beyond the Ethic of the Sanctity of Life The Real Abortion Tragedy 73 Treating (or Not) the Tiniest Babies 77 Pulling Back the Curtain on the Mercy Killing of Newborns 81 No Diseases for Old Men 85 When Doctors Kill 89 Choosing Death 93 Dying in Court 97 Bioethics and Public Health The Human Genome and the Genetic Supermarket 103 The Year of the Clone? 106 Kidneys for Sale? 110 The Many Crises of Health Care 114 Public Health versus Private Freedom? 118 Weigh More, Pay More 122 Should We Live to 1,000? 125 Population and the Pope 129 Sex and Gender Should Adult Sibling Incest Be a Crime? 135 Homosexuality Is Not Immoral 139 Virtual Vices 142 A Private Affair? 146 How Much Should Sex Matter? (with Agata Sagan) 150 God and Woman in Iran 154 Doing Good The One- Percent Solution 159 Holding Charities Accountable 163 Blatant Benevolence 167 Good Charity, Bad Charity 171 Heartwarming Causes Are Nice, But Let's Give to Charity with Our Heads 175 The Ethical Cost of High-Price Art 179 Preventing Human Extinction (with Nick Beckstead and Matt Wage) 182 Happiness Happiness, Money, and Giving It Away 191 Can We Increase Gross National Happiness? 195 The High Cost of Feeling Low 199 No Smile Limit 202 Happy, Nevertheless 205 Politics Bentham's Fallacies, Then and Now 211 The Founding Fathers' Fiscal Crisis 215 Why Vote? 219 Free Speech, Muhammad, and the Holocaust 222 The Use and Abuse of Religious Freedom 225 An Honest Man? 229 Is Citizenship a Right? 232 The Spying Game 236 A Statue for Stalin? 239 Should We Honor Racists? 243 Global Governance Escaping the Refugee Crisis 249 Is Open Diplomacy Possible? 253 The Ethics of Big Food 257 Fairness and Climate Change (with Teng Fei) 260 Will the Polluters Pay for Climate Change? 264 Why Are They Serving Meat at a Climate Change Conference? (with Frances Kissling) 268 Dethroning King Coal 273 Paris and the Fate of the Earth 277 Science and Technology A Clear Case for Golden Rice 283 Life Made to Order 287 Rights for Robots? (with Agata Sagan) 291 A Dream for the Digital Age 295 A Universal Library 298 The Tragic Cost of Being Unscientific 302 Living, Playing, Working How to Keep a New Year's Resolution 307 Why Pay More? 310 Tiger Mothers or Elephant Mothers? 313 Volkswagen and the Future of Honesty 317 Is Doping Wrong? 321 Is It OK to Cheat at Football? 324 A Surfing Reflection 328 Index 331

Longlisted for the 2017 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, Pen American Center "In his new book, Ethics in the Real World, Mr. Singer picks up the topics of animal rights and poverty amelioration and runs quite far with them... This book is interesting because it offers a chance to witness this influential thinker grapple with more offbeat questions."--Dwight Garner, New York Times "A terrific recent book ... that wrestles with how much we should donate to charity, and whether wearing a $10,000 watch is a sign of good taste, or of shallow narcissism."--Nicholas Kristof, New York Times "Perhaps more than any modern philosopher, Peter Singer has focused on the question of how to live a better life. If you want a philosophy that can directly alleviate human and animal suffering, read this wonderful book."--Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith, The Moral Landscape, and Waking Up "Could well inspire conversations--and arguments--that deepen and complicate the crucial moral and ethical issues that Singer presents."--Kirkus "An accessible introduction to the work of a philosopher who would not regard being described as 'accessible' as an insult... Despite their brevity, the essays do not shirk the big moral questions."--Economist "Philosophy should be a more public endeavor, and Singer's work is an excellent entry point. In a fall that will be shaped by a political contest in many ways detached from genuinely pressing moral issues, it might also serve as a refreshingly complex source of ethical questioning."--Talya Zax, Forward "Singer demonstrates how to write pungently and succinctly about moral philosophy."--Daniel Johnson, Standpoint "The essays in the present volume address issues well beyond Singer's normal range of commentary. In sum, this book not only provides a broad-based introduction to Singer's moral philosophy but also will serve ... as an excellent textbook for any course in applied ethics. For philosophers, Singer's work provides a model for how to transition from the ivory tower to the domain of public philosophy."--Choice

"Peter Singer is among the most vital moral voices of our time. He urges us to confront not only the question of what we should not do, but also the harder and larger questions of what we should do, and how much we owe to others."—Larissa MacFarquhar, author of Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help"Read this book. Every chapter will make you think. Some hopefully will make you think differently."—Dean Karlan, coauthor of More Than Good Intentions: Improving the Ways the World's Poor Borrow, Save, Farm, Learn, and Stay Healthy"Peter Singer might well be the most important philosopher alive. He is certainly one of the most enjoyable to read, and it's a joy to browse through this collection of his smart short essays. This is public philosophy at its best—clear, controversial, and deeply rational."—Paul Bloom, author of Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil"Peter Singer has done more good for the world than any other living philosopher, with ideas that have helped fight poverty, transform medical ethics, and protect animals. In this collection of popular essays, his intellect, courage, humanity, good sense, and good humor shine through. This is practical philosophy at its very best, stripped of all pretense and wisely applied to the most important questions of our time."—Joshua Greene, author of Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them"Peter Singer, one of the world's best-known and most significant philosophers, addresses some profoundly important issues in this book. He presents the issues and arguments with a lucidity, accessibility, and sharpness reminiscent of Bertrand Russell, another philosopher who sought to have a serious social impact. Ethics in the Real World will undoubtedly be a force for the good."—Bart Schultz, University of Chicago"Perhaps more than any modern philosopher, Peter Singer has focused on the question of how to live a better life. If you want a philosophy that can directly alleviate human and animal suffering, read this wonderful book."—Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith, The Moral Landscape, and Waking Up“I started reading Ethics in the Real World when I was arrested for blocking the entrances of petrol terminals, as part of a Just Stop Oil protest, and finished it when I was in custody for a protest with the animal rights and climate group, Animal Rebellion. When I am expecting to be arrested after a protest, I bring a book to read while being held in police custody. This made a fantastic custody book!”—Oliver Clegg, activist