Skip to content

Human beings are social animals. We were social before we were human.

— Peter Singer The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

Another quote →

More quotes by Peter Singer

If evolution is a struggle for survival, why hasn't it ruthlessly eliminated altruists, who seem to increase another's prospects of survival at the cost of their own?

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

Since ancient times, philosophers have maintained that to strive too hard for one's own happiness is self-defeating.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

The principles of ethics come from our own nature as social, reasoning beings.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

Science does not stand still, and neither does philosophy, although the latter has a tendency to walk in circles.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

There can be no brotherhood when some nations indulge in previously unheard of luxuries, while others struggle to stave off famine.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

All Peter Singer quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Peter Singer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.