Moral Of The Story

Peter Singer, Princeton's controversial professor of bioethics, and Renata Singer, a writer and anti-racism activist, offer selections from novels, stories, plays and poetry to stimulate thought about such dilemmas as what we owe to our families, neighbors and strangers and whether our own interests can clash with what we know to be right. They group the writings by themes, which range in scope from self-identity to ultimate values, and introduce each theme with a summary of philosophical discussion on the topic. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University. He is the author of Animal Liberation (1975), and is widely credited with triggering the modern animal rights movement. His other books include Practical Ethics (1979), Rethinking Life and Death (1995) and One World (2002). He is also the editor of A Companion to Ethics (Blackwell, 1991), In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave (Blackwell, 2005), and, with Helga Kuhse, of A Companion to Bioethics (Blackwell, 1999) and Bioethics: An Anthology (Blackwell, 1999). A collection of his best essays on ethics, Unsanctifying Human Life, edited by Helga Kuhse, was published by Blackwell in 2002.

Renata Singer has taught in Oxfordshire and New Jersey, developed anti-racist programs in Sydney and written about development programs in South Africa, El Salvador, and Ethiopia. Her first novel, The Front of the Family,was published in 2002. Among her non-fiction works are the books True Stories from the Land of Divorce (with Nelly Zola, 1995) and Goodbye and Hello (with Susie Orzech, 1985).