“Philosophy ought to question the basic assumptions of the age. Thinking through, critically and carefully, what most of us take for granted is, I believe, the chief task of philosophy, and the task that makes philosophy a worthwhile activity.”

Australian moral philosopher

Peter Singer is an Australian moral philosopher, best known for his work in applied ethics and for shaping modern debates about animal welfare and global poverty. He is Emeritus Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. His book Animal Liberation, published in 1975, criticized intensive animal farming and speciesism and helped shape the animal rights movement. He is also known for "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," which argues that people have a moral duty to help the global poor, and for later books including The Life You Can Save and The Most Good You Can Do, which influenced the effective altruism movement. He has worked from a secular, utilitarian perspective throughout much of his career.