A Biography of Peter Singer
PeterSinger(b.1946)isarguablytheworld’smostinfluential
livingphilosopher.In 2005 Timemagazinenamedhimoneof
theonehundredmostinfluentialpeopleintheworld,andhe
ranked third on the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute’s list of
Global Thought Leaders for 2013.
SingerwasbornonJuly 6 inMelbourne,Australia,toJewish
parents who had fled Vienna in 1938 after the Austrian
annexationbyHitler’sGermany.Hisgrandparents,however,
did not leave, and three of them died in the Holocaust.
Singer’s maternal grandfather was the renowned classical
scholar David Oppenheim, who was an early
collaborator—andthenacritic—ofSigmundFreud’s.Singer
exploresthelivesofhisgrandparents,thetimeinwhichthey
lived,andthelastingimpacttheyhad onhisandcountless
others’ lives inPushing Time Away, first published in 2003.
AsanundergraduateattheUniversityofMelbourne,Singer
studiedlaw,history,andphilosophy,receivingabachelorof
artsdegreewithhonorsin1967.HemarriedRenataDiamond,
anauthorandnovelistinherownright,thefollowingyear,
and in 1969 he received a master’s degree,also from the
UniversityofMelbourne,withthethesis“WhyshouldIbe
moral?”
SingerwasawardedascholarshiptostudyattheUniversity
of Oxfordand in 1971 obtained a bachelor of philosophy
degreewithathesisoncivildisobedience,publishedin 1973
asDemocracyandDisobedience.HewassupervisedbyR.M.