By Patrick B. Craine
OTTAWA, Ontario, November 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Infamous infanticide proponent Peter Singer of Princeton University is scheduled to deliver a talk in Ottawa this month expounding his view on the moral implications of climate change.
The talk, being hosted by the Carleton University Philosophy Society at Dominion-Chalmers United Church, is entitled “Climate Change: Moral Wrongdoing by the Developed World.” Proceeds from the event will go to Oxfam.
Singer, who serves as the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, is known as a strong promoter of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia.
“He believes it’s a morally good thing to kill your newborn if he has disabilities,” explained Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
“His philosophy is that we need to have the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. He’s rejected the basic idea that in caring for another you actually live and find your happiness. He doesn’t, of course, accept that there’s an intrinsic value to a human life.”
Singer argues, for example, that abortion is morally permissible because one must weigh the preferences of the woman against those of the unborn child, who lacks the full capacity for suffering and satisfaction.
“An infant has no moral status because he is not self-aware,” Singer told a major conference on abortion that he co-organized last month.
Singer has pointed out that his promotion of infanticide is entirely consistent with his support for abortion. “One point on which I agree with opponents of abortion is that, from the point of view of ethics rather than the law, there is no sharp distinction between the foetus and the newborn baby,” he told the UK's Independent in 2006.
One of his major works, Animal Liberation (published 1975), launched him into a leadership role in the animal “rights” movement. He argues, for example, that highly-aware animals are owed more respect and protection than some lower-functioning humans.
Schadenberg said his biggest concern about Singer is that his ultra-radical views have made it so other radicals look more moderate. “What he says appears to most people to be off the wall, but if you realize where bioethics is going today, what he’s done is he’s pushed the limits to the outer edge,” said Schadenberg.
“Are the people buying into this philosophy without really objectively thinking about this?” he asked.
Contact Information:
Rev. James Murray
Dominion-Chalmers United Church
355 Cooper Street at O'Connor
Ottawa, ON K2P 0G8
Phone: 613-235-5143
E-mail: [email protected]
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Heavyweight Philosophers Clash at Abortion Conference
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10102209.html