Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viIi PREFACE A Mandarin Random House Australia australia CHAPTER I The ultimate choice 1 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, NSW 2061 p-l/www.randomhouse.com.au Ivan Boesky's choice I The Ring of Gyges 9 First published in Australia in 1993 by the Text Publishing Company What in the hell are we doing this for? 11 This Mandarin edition reprinted by Random House Australia, 1997 Ethics and self-interest 21 Copyright e Peter Singer 1993 CHAPTER 2 What's in it for me? 26 A failing social experiment 26 transmitted in any form or by any means(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright The loss of community 34 and the publisher of this book. CHAPTER 3 Using up the world 4 Printed and bound in Ar australian Print Group Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Adam Smith? 45 Cataloguing-in-Publication data Living on our inheritance 49 How an overflowing sink makes Adam Smith obsolete 55 When are we well oft? 57 CHAPTER 4 How we came to be living this way 65 ISBN1863304312 A perverse instinct 65 Aristotle on the art of making money 67 L. Ethics. 2 Self-interest- Moral and ethical aspects. L. Title. Can a merchant be pleasing to God? 69 Luthers calling and Calvins grace 77 The religious and the secular converge 8 A withered greening 90A Mandarin book Published by Random House Australia Australia 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, NSW 2061 http://www.randomhouse.com.au First published in Australia in 1993 by the Text Publishing Company Reprinted 1993, 1994 This Mandarin edition reprinted by Random House Australia, 1997 Copyright © Peter Singer 1993 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright above, no part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. Typeset in Garamond by Bookset Pry Ltd, Melbourne Printed and bound in Australia by Australian Print Group National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data Singer, Peter. How are we to live? Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 1 86330 431 2 1. Ethics. 2. Self-interest - Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title. 170 Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S viii « PREFAC E i x CHAPTE R 1 The ultimate choice 1 Ivan Boesky's choice 1 The Ring of Gyges 9 'What in the hell are we doing this for?' 11 The end of history or the beginning of secular ethics? 14 Ethics and self-interest 21 CHAPTE R 2 'What's in it for me?' 26 A failing social experiment 26 The loss of community 34 CHAPTE R 3 Using up the world 45 Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Adam Smith? 45 Living on our inheritance 49 How an overflowing sink makes Adam Smith obsolete 55 When are we well off? 57 CHAPTE R 4 How we came to be living this way 65 A perverse instinct 65 Aristotle on the art of making money 67 Can a merchant be pleasing to God? 69 Luther's calling and Calvin's grace 77 The religious and the secular converge 80 The consumer society 88 A withered greening 90 The Reagan years: 'Enrich thyself 93