Just bought the book and look forward to reading it Peter. As someone interested in ethics I have found Buddhism to be particularly useful as a philosophy of humility, self-compassion, empathy and healthy pragmatism (often missing in Western analytic and metaphysical philosophy). For example, the parables of the arrow
and the mustard seed show the extraordinary power of Buddhist thought. Buddhism is foremost for me a science of mind and beliefs. It requires validation by experience and not just contemplation, faith or conjecture: "Of course you are uncertain, Kalamas. Of course you are in doubt. When there are reasons for doubt, uncertainty is born. So in this case, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering' — then you should abandon them."
Kay, there are many different forms of Buddhism. As Shih Chao-Hwei explains in the dialogue we had, you don't have to believe in gods, or reincarnation, to be a Buddhist.
Dear Peter Singer, I am thrilled that you are on Substack and that you have written a book about Buddhism and Ethics! When I was teaching Ethics to seniors in high school, one of the essays my students read was yours on nonhuman animals….it proved to be enormously challenging for them. I tend Buddhist, if that makes any sense to you. Some years I also had students delve into Buddhist Ethics.
Thank you for your excellent work! I left teaching a little over a year ago. Now I work part time at a hardware store/plant nursery and have time to write.
For my wife and I, Humanism is the philosophy of life we endeavor to follow. The basis of Humanism is adhering to a belief in science, reason and compassion. For us, that compassion includes the ethical treatment of animals which for us includes, if a meat eater, ethical ways of killing them. We are more concerned with the ethical treatment of, especially, children. If you look at world statistics at what is done to children, the outcomes are, in a word, horrendous.
One comment: You say it's difficult for us secular people to accept reincarnation. But have you read the short story The Egg by Andy Weir (https://galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html)? It offers a good way to think about it from a Utilitarian standpoint (without explicitly saying that). If you harm another person and cause their sentience to suffer, that is equivalent, objectively, to causing yours to suffer. If all that makes my sentience a different unit from yours is the brain hardware (like memory) it's connected to, the debate over whether my sentience gets "reincarnated" as yours is a quibble over words. I might say there's no reason to be ethical but there is reason to buy a new car, but that's a mistake resulting from my illusion of self.
Just bought the book and look forward to reading it Peter. As someone interested in ethics I have found Buddhism to be particularly useful as a philosophy of humility, self-compassion, empathy and healthy pragmatism (often missing in Western analytic and metaphysical philosophy). For example, the parables of the arrow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Poisoned_Arrow
and the mustard seed show the extraordinary power of Buddhist thought. Buddhism is foremost for me a science of mind and beliefs. It requires validation by experience and not just contemplation, faith or conjecture: "Of course you are uncertain, Kalamas. Of course you are in doubt. When there are reasons for doubt, uncertainty is born. So in this case, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering' — then you should abandon them."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.than.html
True. Thank you for the comment.
BTW My understanding of Buddhism is that there are multiple gods.
Kay, there are many different forms of Buddhism. As Shih Chao-Hwei explains in the dialogue we had, you don't have to believe in gods, or reincarnation, to be a Buddhist.
Dear Peter Singer, I am thrilled that you are on Substack and that you have written a book about Buddhism and Ethics! When I was teaching Ethics to seniors in high school, one of the essays my students read was yours on nonhuman animals….it proved to be enormously challenging for them. I tend Buddhist, if that makes any sense to you. Some years I also had students delve into Buddhist Ethics.
Thank you for your excellent work! I left teaching a little over a year ago. Now I work part time at a hardware store/plant nursery and have time to write.
For my wife and I, Humanism is the philosophy of life we endeavor to follow. The basis of Humanism is adhering to a belief in science, reason and compassion. For us, that compassion includes the ethical treatment of animals which for us includes, if a meat eater, ethical ways of killing them. We are more concerned with the ethical treatment of, especially, children. If you look at world statistics at what is done to children, the outcomes are, in a word, horrendous.
Great piece! It makes me excited for the book.
One comment: You say it's difficult for us secular people to accept reincarnation. But have you read the short story The Egg by Andy Weir (https://galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html)? It offers a good way to think about it from a Utilitarian standpoint (without explicitly saying that). If you harm another person and cause their sentience to suffer, that is equivalent, objectively, to causing yours to suffer. If all that makes my sentience a different unit from yours is the brain hardware (like memory) it's connected to, the debate over whether my sentience gets "reincarnated" as yours is a quibble over words. I might say there's no reason to be ethical but there is reason to buy a new car, but that's a mistake resulting from my illusion of self.