Statement on the Hiring of Peter Singer

W e the undersigned protest the hiring of Dr. Peter Singer as the Ira DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values. We protest his hiring because Dr. Singer denies the intrinsic moral worth of an entire class of human beings –newborn children – and promotes policies that would deprive many infants with disabilities of their basic human right to legal protection against homicide.

In his book Practical Ethics, Dr. Singer states that no infant has as strong a claim to life as a rational, self-conscious human being.1 Dr. Singer’s criteria for distinguishing newborn infants from “normal human beings”2 (including more mature infants) thus hinge on subjectively imposed conditions such as “rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness”.3 This lesser claim to life is also applied to those older children or adults whose mental age is and has always been that of an infant.4 His assertion of the appropriateness of killing some humans based on others’ decision concerning the “quality” of their lives should strike fear into everyone who cherishes equality and honors human life.

Furthermore, Dr. Singer defines certain disabled persons as individuals who are living “a life not worth living.”5 His views permit the killing of certain newborn infants with disabilities up to 28 days after birth.6 Dr. Singer states that “killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Very often, it is not wrong at all.”7 Dr. Singer’s message threatens individuals with disabilities and contributes to the erosion of the public’s regard for the fundamental human rights of disabled people.

Finally, Dr. Singer suggests that the regulated killing of babies with spina bifida be permitted.8 He would extend to parents the authority to “replace” a Down’s syndrome or hemophiliac infant (i.e. kill the child and conceive another) if adequate family or societal resources were not forthcoming. 9 Even though Dr. Singer concentrates on disabled infants, the ethical arguments and metaphors that he provisionally adopts10 leave open the potential empowerment of parents to kill a non-disabled newborn whose “replacement” would ameliorate their prospects for a happy life.11

The hiring of Dr. Peter Singer to a professorial chair in ethics at a university as prestigious as Princeton will certainly, though perhaps unintentionally, legitimate his claims. Thus legitimated, Dr. Singer will use the platform afforded by Princeton to continue to argue for the killing of certain disabled babies, and his teachings may help cast the practice of infanticide in a more respectable light; further, his teaching may encourage the propagation of infanticide. The hiring of Dr. Peter Singer is a blatant violation of Princeton University’s policy of respect for people with disabilities. Princeton University’s Commitment to the Community specifically states:

Abusive or harassing behavior, verbal, or physical, which demeans, intimidates, threatens, or injures another
because of his or her personal characteristics or beliefs is subject to University disciplinary sanctions…
Examples of personal characteristics or beliefs include but are not limited to sex, sexual orientation, race,
ethnicity, national origin, religion, and handicap.12

Dr. Singer’s view that many disabled babies may rightly be killed demeans and threatens those with handicaps. His ideology reinforces the false notion that many disabled persons’ lives are less worth living and are inherently inferior to the lives of others. Despite his assurances that he rejects discrimination against the adult disability population, it is demeaning to suggest to them that their parents would have been justified in killing them as newborns.13 If Princeton University is committed to upholding the principles of non-discrimination, it must rescind its decision to hire Dr. Peter Singer.

1 Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics 2nd edition p. 182
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid. p. 181
5 Ibid. p. 184
6 Kuhse & Singer, Should the Baby Live?, pp.194-97
7 Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics 2nd edition p. 191
8 Ibid. pp. 184, 202-03
9 Ibid. pp. 186-90
10 Ibid. pp. x-xi, 127, 129-31
11 Ibid. pp. 182, 186
12 http://www.princeton.edu/Ombuds/fairness.html
13 Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics 2nd edition p. 189









The Statement on the Hiring of Peter Singer is brought to you by Princeton Students Against Infanticide (PSAI).
Questions? Comments? Want to sign the Petition Against the Hiring of Peter Singer? Want to help?
Please contact PSAI by phone or fax: (609) 688-1490 or by email: princetonsai@hotmail.com Thank You.
This page created by Christopher J. Benek

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