A Good Life: According to Peter Singer (Part 1)

[diogotomediogo]

"The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good." - Bertrand Russell

[SlugChristie]

hilarious video description

[deanmullen10]

Water and food used to produce meat are given to animals that can survive on their own, and that water and food could have gone to save humans lives and Peter pointed out furthermore the animals go through needless pain and death in exchange for some human pleasure, pleasure that creates health risks. Then the food crisis emerges in poorer regions and increasing animal slaughter is what is done to help overcome the issue which this cycle is creating in the first place.

That's so unethical.

[TheAtheistRealist]

The fact is that we would all feel a stronger urge to help the drowning child than to help starving people on the other side of the planet because the former is a stronger stimulus to trigger those instincts of empathy which natural selection has produced in us due to social living among intelligent animals.

We have mirror neurons remember, (look it up), it seems obvious that a stronger response would be triggered by actually seeing someone dying than by imagining it.

[begood20000]

There is a part of you that would act in self interest in helping the kid i.e. you would be made a hero.

Even when you give money to charity you do it because it makes you feel good. You tell yourself that you're a good person and other people think so too.

There is no such thing as altruism. There must be some inherent benefit.

[Adamalgorithm]

@begood20000 There is such a thing as genuine altruism. Simply do a good anonymous deed to a total stranger and never tell anybody about your charity toward this stranger. Then, you are truly altruistic. I do not know people who have done this, but the point is that if they told me about their good deed, it would be self-defeating and not a genuine altruism. I suspect however that a lot of people have committed acts of true altruism of the kind that no evolutionary theory could explain.

[begood20000]

@Adamalgorithm This is no genuine altruism. Take your example of not telling anyone- you still get the benefit and feeling like a good person, even if no one else knows you yourself know.

If there was genuine altruism then what would be the point of it? (Please answer this question)

[Adamalgorithm]

@begood20000 You may be right about the "feel-good" factor when being charitable. However, depending on the charitable act, I do not think that this factor is enough compensation. You still end up giving more than you can ever hope to get back. In addition, altruism concerns the relationship between the inner you and the outer world, so if you do not get anything from the outside environment (just an internal sense of pleasure) then I think be definition you are still altruistic.

[Adamalgorithm]

@begood20000 I do not know what the point of genuine altruism is. Perhaps it is simply to show that we can overcome of instincts and natural constraints. In a sense it shows we have surpassed Nature and we can be Gods ourselves.

Of course, this feeling may be an illusion.

[PlatoJaspers]

If you overcome some of your egotism, that doesn't mean you 'become a God yourself'. It's a possibility within a reasonable human being to choose to do so.

[PlatoJaspers]

What's the problem with getting a good feeling out of helping another? It's still better than getting a good feeling out of using cocaine or buying an extravagant watch, I think. The ethical value of helping is there apart from the fact if we get a good feeling out of it or not.

[halflifeproductionz]

anyone in ANY society would help the child. of course if you live in islamic countries they think that living in the west its all about narcissism.

[IEJ2011]

What about the reward? The guy in his new shoes has the thought, "if I save the baby and damage my shoes, the mother of the baby will be so happy that she will offer to buy me a new pair. And I will just lie and say they cost me double what they actually cost me and I would be able to get an extra pair for free." He proceeds into the lake whereby he soaks his shoes but pulls baby out. The baby is alive. He takes a closer look and is astounded that the baby is Peter Singer's grandchild! OMG!

[dopejoel]

You guys should check out "Universally Preferable Behavior: A Rational Proof of Secular Ethics" by Stefan Molynuex. You can download the free audiobook at freedomain radio dot com.

[zarakas2000]

Peter Singer is not a philosopher

[GeneralJakass]

@zarakas2000 says who?

[idreamtofflight]

@zarakas2000 riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

[Nades129]

My Nike ain't gonna get wet yo! I'll just call the POHLEESE

[lacklusterkid]

I'd walk on and forget the kid. I got some new Nikes'!

[MrDarkbloom]

Singer is fantastic.

[JCM69]

peter singer is a philosophical genius

[jtbovis]

lol at the video description: "The great Peter Singer is interviewed by the mediocre Geraldine Doogue." Very appropriate! :P

[moyga]

Anyone who says "Whats a Philosopher doing talking about this, this is a political statement" has absolutely no idea what Philosophy is and probably shouldn't be in politics.

[Jammerz62]

@moyga I think the scary thing is that a good deal of people think this kind of nonsense, and really do in fact have no idea what philosophy is, which puts philosophy itself in a compromising position, to say the least.

[SwiftyMcVeigh100]

@moyga

It really is unbelievably ignorant politics is a product of philosophy