When you do applied ethics, you often end up challenging common-sense morality. That’s part of a long philosophical tradition - Socrates himself asked people about justice, only to show them they didn’t understand it as well as they thought. He was condemned for “corrupting the youth.” Today, philosophers aren’t forced to drink hemlock, but applied ethics still unsettles deeply held beliefs. It doesn’t corrupt morality - it challenges it, and sometimes that’s exactly what we need. Credit: Examin

You don’t need to believe in God to think that morality is objective — just as you don’t need to believe in God to think that mathematics or the laws of logic are objective. Moral truths can stand on their own. Credit: The Institute of Art and Ideas, 2024 | Peter Singer

I once thought there were no objective moral truths. Over time, I became persuaded that there are self-evident truths, axioms of ethics, that provide an objective foundation for morality. Recognising this was a turning point in my thinking. Credit: The Institute of Art and Ideas, 2024 | Peter Singer