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  • Feb. 15, 2013
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What are the moral consequences of consequentialism?

Consequentialism is defined as of all the things a person might do at any given moment; the morally right action is the one with the best overall consequences.  Peter Singer who is a philosopher expresses his views on animal rights, abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, and bestiality. According to William Crawley’s interview with Singer, Singer’s opinions on these topics provoke a great deal of controversy because there are really no concrete answers and the proposed solutions to these views are debatable.

One of the most controversial issues is abortion, in the interview and article "Peter Singer: Abortion, the dividing lines," Singer passionately speaks about his pro-abortion view and how to minimize the pain of the fetus when it is about to be murdered. The article can be related to the interview because Singer tells us what makes a person to be a person and what is a person of being a rational substance. In the interview he uses this example where if a baby was born with only a brain stem and nothing else in the brain. The child would never recognize his or her parents, have any emotions, communicate or do anything either, Singer argues based on determining whether or not this child is a rational substance, and rational substance is what defines a person to be a person. He said this child may be born by human parents, but it is not a rational substance nor will it ever be rational. A chimpanzee was also mentioned in the interview, where the chimpanzee is far more self aware, rational, capable of connecting and loving other species. The chimpanzee is rational and is just as prestigious as a humans. The child's life will be completely up to the parents and doctors whether or not they are capable supporting the child and other factors involved. Singer does not think that murdering the child is immoral because that child is not a rational substance and never will be.

I completely agree with Singer in...