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The Troubling Beliefs of an "Influential" Atheist

DOC

Philosopher
Joined
Jan 20, 2007
Messages
7,959
Here is some info about an atheistic professor named Peter Singer who Time Magazine called one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2005, and a New Yorker Magazine article described as the "most influential" philosopher alive.

Here are some of the troubling beliefs of this influential atheistic professor.

From the World Magazine article "Same-sex marriage? Euthanasia? Child's play issues in the avant-garde philosophy of Peter Singer" Marvin Olasky

"For example, when I asked him {Singer} last month about necrophilia (what if two people make an agreement that whoever lives longest can have sexual relations with the corpse of the person who dies first?), he said, "There's no moral problem with that." Concerning bestiality (should people have sex with animals, seen as willing participants?), he responded, "I would ask, 'What's holding you back from a more fulfilling relationship?' [but] it's not wrong inherently in a moral sense."

If the 21st century becomes a Singer century, we will also see legal infanticide of born children who are ill or who have ill older siblings in need of their body parts. Question: What about parents conceiving and giving birth to a child specifically to kill him, take his organs, and transplant them into their ill older children? Mr. Singer: "It's difficult to warm to parents who can take such a detached view, [but] they're not doing something really wrong in itself." Is there anything wrong with a society in which children are bred for spare parts on a massive scale? "No."

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/9987

Singer was recently a professor at Princeton. He still might be there but I'm not sure.
 
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did this really need another thread? You are already having this discussion elsewhere.
 
Concerning bestiality (should people have sex with animals, seen as willing participants?), he responded, "I would ask, 'What's holding you back from a more fulfilling relationship?' [but] it's not wrong inherently in a moral sense."
what do you find objectionable about the above statement?
 
did this really need another thread? You are already having this discussion elsewhere.

You need to ask yourself why did I "really" ask this question.

Also do you believe Peter Singer's beliefs and criminality go together.
 
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Funny, he has no influence on anyone here. So, what possible purpose does your obsession with him serve? Or, is it that you have an obsession with bestiality, and this gives you an excuse to talk about your secret heart's desire?
 
Singer must not be that influential. Not long ago I read about a guy who was sentenced for having sex with a dead deer(beastialnecro) Think he was on probation for having sex with a horse. I will see if I can find the story.
 
Oh, and he's apparently "influential" in PETA circles, not on theological or atheistic circles. So, DOC's obsession with him is a form of ad hominem argument, isn't it?
 
I see no reason specifically this man's atheism has any causal relationship to his world view. Nor is the Biblical list of what is and is not morally acceptable some magically clear guideline of morality. IE, theism/atheism has little if any bearing on morality beliefs.
 
Oh, and he's apparently "influential" in PETA circles, not on theological or atheistic circles. So, DOC's obsession with him is a form of ad hominem argument, isn't it?
True, but DOC hasn't really made any argument yet, He's simply presented a take on Singer's views. He's simply presented a quote and left it to everyone to draw their conclusions.

I need to first know what DOC finds objectionable. For instance, from his quoted text

"Concerning bestiality (should people have sex with animals, seen as willing participants?), he responded, "I would ask, 'What's holding you back from a more fulfilling relationship?' [but] it's not wrong inherently in a moral sense." "


Which part of this does DOC wrong.
 
You need to ask yourself why did I "really" ask this question.

Also do you believe Peter Singer's beliefs and criminality go together.

Never heard of the chap but he gave honest answers to loaded questions - fair play to him. In the case of the parents seeking to save the life of a child they love - you take issue with this why exactly? Is your argument really "let the kid die"? There was a case in the UK not so long ago where parents had a second child to obtain stem cells to save the life of the older sibling. As far as I know it was successful and both children are doing well and far from being a spare part the second child is much loved. Your position seems at face value to be that the second child should not have been conceived and the first allowed to die. What would your choice have been in that situation?

As to your question above, No.
 
I think DOC's got an unhealthy obsession brewing here.

Anybody want to take bets on how many times he'll need to be told that one atheist cannot possibly speak for any other atheist, except to say that atheists don't believe in god, as that is the sum-total of what atheism is?

Or is his post yet another attempt (or perhaps a revival of the old attempt) to somehow equate atheism with evil?

"He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument."
- Holofernes, act V, scene i, Love's Labour's Lost
 
True, but DOC hasn't really made any argument yet, He's simply presented a take on Singer's views. He's simply presented a quote and left it to everyone to draw their conclusions.

I need to first know what DOC finds objectionable. For instance, from his quoted text

"Concerning bestiality (should people have sex with animals, seen as willing participants?), he responded, "I would ask, 'What's holding you back from a more fulfilling relationship?' [but] it's not wrong inherently in a moral sense." "


Which part of this does DOC wrong.
I think he's kind of into it, personally.

Joe, please do not indulge in personal attacks - keep in mind your membership agreement expects civility to be the norm.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: jmercer
 
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I thought I already addressed this, but I guess it's whack-a-mole time.

Atheistic Princeton Professor Peter Singer does not AS YOU CLAIMED support the right to engage in bestiality and the right to engage in necrophilia. He doesn't claim that there is a right to engage in bestiality, and he doesn't claim that there is a right to engage in necrophilia. He doesn't "support" either act. He simply says that the scenarios presented by the interviewer are not immoral.

It's not immoral to smear yourself all over with raw eggs and chocolate sauce before watching movies marathons on TV, but my conceding that doesn't mean I advocate the practice.
 
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Here is some info about an atheistic professor named Peter Singer who Time Magazine called one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2005, and a New Yorker Magazine article described as the "most influential" philosopher alive.
The fact that his utilitarian values may be 'influential' is troubling, but does not reflect poorly on atheism.

From the World Magazine article "Same-sex marriage? Euthanasia? Child's play issues in the avant-garde philosophy of Peter Singer" Marvin Olasky
I dislike the implication that not only bestiality and necrophilia, but also euthanasia, are compared in this way to homosexual marriage.

"For example, when I asked him {Singer} last month about necrophilia (what if two people make an agreement that whoever lives longest can have sexual relations with the corpse of the person who dies first?), he said, "There's no moral problem with that."
And how often does this happen? Isn't this like asking 'what if two three-year olds decide to have wild BSDM sex?'.

However, if they both complied, I'd find it repulsive, but it'd be their private business and wouldn't hurt anyone else, so I'd have nothing to do with it.

Concerning bestiality (should people have sex with animals, seen as willing participants?), he responded, "I would ask, 'What's holding you back from a more fulfilling relationship?' [but] it's not wrong inherently in a moral sense."
Again, a not very likely scenario. I've yet to hear of consenting animals, so unless you can prove me wrong here, this is not a real-life scenario.

But seriously, DOC, what's your point here? I could start a thread entitled 'The troubling Beliefs of an "influential" Theist' and list the opinions of Phelps, Haggard, the current Pope, or some other dubious character in Christendom, but what would it prove?
 
Never heard of the chap but he gave honest answers to loaded questions - fair play to him. In the case of the parents seeking to save the life of a child they love - you take issue with this why exactly? Is your argument really "let the kid die"? There was a case in the UK not so long ago where parents had a second child to obtain stem cells to save the life of the older sibling. As far as I know it was successful and both children are doing well and far from being a spare part the second child is much loved. Your position seems at face value to be that the second child should not have been conceived and the first allowed to die. What would your choice have been in that situation?

As to your question above, No.
To be fair, Singer is apparently saying that it's okay to kill the first child and harvest his parts, not merely conceive him in order to provide "spare" parts.

His viewpoint is apparently that a newborn, having no concept of time, and thus no fear of death or plans for the future, will "lose" less by dying than the more mature child he's being sacrificed to save. I can't really agree that that's a moral viewpoint, though I understand it intellectually. If you "let" the older child die, and give birth to another child, the result is equivalent -- one child lives, one dies. I can even understand how a parent might make that decision -- they have their own memories of the older child, and have bonded, while the newborn is still a bit of a black box. It still just doesn't seem right to me, and I don't think there's much chance of a "Singer century" in which such things become acceptable.
 

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