The expanding circle: Ethics, evolution, and moral progress

Peter Singer argues that the human brain’s capacity to reason – while evolving to serve survival and reproductive functions – ultimately allows the realization that any other person’s suffering is equivalent to our own. This provides a basis for social inclusion, empathy, and altruism in place of intolerance, indifference, and cruelty. According to Singer, our ability to transcend self-interest is further fostered by education, allowing the “point of view of the universe” to increasingly pervade human consciousness, strengthening the basis for humanity’s striving for justice and well-being for all. I hope that the availability of Singer’s book to the MacEwan community contributes to this cause.