By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
Peter Singer, author of ``Animal Liberation,'' which is regarded as the bible of the animal rights movement, came to Seoul to talk about ``Living Ethically in the 21st Century'' in a series of Dasan Memorial Lectures.
The Australian-born professor, who lectures at Princeton University and is affiliated with the University of Melbourne, was among Time Magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people in 2005. The magazine stated that ``he is a man whose reasoning merits consideration by everyone. There are few philosophers, living or dead, about whom that can be said.'' The New Yorker once described the 60-year-old as ``maybe the most controversial philosopher alive.''
The ``controversial'' part of him does not manifest itself when the staunch vegetarian argues for animal rights or the need to contribute to eradicate poverty around the world, following theologian Thomas Aquinas who wrote ``Whatever certain people have in superabundance is due, by natural law, to the purpose of succoring the poor.''
His advocacy of animal rights is based on the premise that animals are beings that can suffer.
``Humans are a dominant group that are using other beings for their interests,'' Singer said in a meeting with Korean reporters Tuesday. The situation _ intensive farming and locking up animals to meet humans' need _ is a ``very ethical challenge'' and could be labeled as ``speciesism'' as any other discriminatory attitude such as sexism or racism.
But those who agree with this eminent bio-ethicist on animal rights or poverty may find him quite heartless when following his reasoning deeper.
Singer does not believe that the difference between humans and animals is fundamental, nor is human life solely sacrosanct. On his fourth lecture scheduled on May 21 at the Press Center, he plans to go through the argument for human embryo research as well as euthanasia of newborn babies with severe disabilities.
```The position of the George Bush administration (on banning the human embryo research) is mistakenly, based on the false view that human life is sacrosanct,'' he said.
Singer said his reasoning is rooted in the tradition of the British Utilitarian School, which includes philosophers such as David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill, and puts emphasis on the benefit of the many. So for example, if newborns with severe disabilities have no capacity to feel pain, then it is like a plant, and if their existence only causes suffering for those involved, like their parents, euthanasia could be the solution. The avoidance of suffering is the key.
Singer also believes on the importance of individual movements to influence institutions.
``The capitalist economy is a flexible one,'' he said, citing the example of Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer of the United States which announced earlier this year that it would phase out the use of gestation stalls for pigs. Singer argued that people can send a message to the capitalist market by changing the way they purchase. ``I am neither for nor against capitalism, but simply for using the system to change things,'' he said.