ABSTRACT
In his book The Expanding Circle Peter Singer argues that the principle of giving equal weight to the interests of all-which he calls the Equality Principle-is the only rational foundation for ethical judgements and decisions.1 The standpoint the principle embodies, he says, is the standpoint of reason itself. The essence of his argument for this huge claim is that rationality requires impartiality (ordisinterestedness) and impartiality requires the adoption of the Equality Principle. He writes as follows:
We can progress towards rational settlements of disputes over ethics by taking the element of disinterestedness inherent in the idea of justifying one’s conduct to society as a whole, and extending this into the principle that, to be ethical, a decision must give equal weight to the interests of all affected by it.2
