How are we to live? Book

5★+
"I shall suggest that living an ethical life enables us to identify ourselves with the grandest cause of all, and that to do so is the best way open to us of making our lives meaningful.

I wrote this review in 2015 and was just reminded of the book, so I came back to read it. I'd like to promote Peter Singer's ideas again, because I admire how he thinks. It was a library book, and I didn't copy any other quotes at the time, but here's what I thought back then.
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As I write, this book is 22 years old, but as relevant now as ever for anyone feeling lost and wondering what we can do about Life and the state of the world.

1993 was before the online world of social media and the likes of global petitions that 'clickivists' can use to instantly express their displeasure with unethical treatment of people and animals and share it with others.

It is such a delight to read a well-written philosophical discussion of what ethics means and what it means in people's lives. Activism can play a part, but it's more about a general attitude to our behaviour.

When teaching in the US, Singer was astounded by the number of unhappy Americans going to therapists who told them to look inward to seek help.

Singer would rather they be encouraged to look out to see where they could be of help to others (in poverty or distress), which might be a more appropriate treatment for lack of fulfilment.

Singer has given a brief overview of the positions of other philosophers - Plato, Aristotle, Smith, Kant, - as well as of the major religions. Great 'nutshell' resource. They don't agree on our motives for behaving ethically and sometimes not on what constitutes ethical behaviour.

The political references are interesting but less current.

I apologise if he's changed his mind over the previous two decades, but from what I've seen in his interviews, he's as passionate as ever.

Each time I see him on TV or read an article about him, I promise to read his books. This won't be the last one.