Abstract

Singer’s ‘Practical Ethics’ is based on a form of utilitarianism which takes into account the interests of a living being if and only if it displays a minimum of rationality and (self-)consciousness. Accordingly aborting a human fetus in an early stage of development is held to be morally acceptable, whereas killing chicken, pigs, and cattle for mere culinary pleasure is not. Singer's view on abortion are refuted because they only consider the actual properties of the fetus but ignore the quality of its future life. In general the ‘principle of replaceability’ must be rejected. And although making animais suffer certainly is immoral, mere (painless) killing does not necessarily do so great a harm to them that we have to become vegetarians.