Moral philosopher Peter Singer joins ASU's Lawrence Krauss in conversation on ethics

An Origins Project Dialogue featuring moral philosopher Peter Singer in a conversation with Lawrence Krauss from Arizona State University will be held 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

"Singer & Krauss: An Origins Project Dialogue" is a candid and unscripted conversation on ethics for the 21st century, covering topics including animal liberation, dying with dignity, food, global poverty and effective altruism.

Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, specializes in applied ethics for humans and animals. He serves on a number of advisory boards and has received numerous awards for his work, including being named the Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies and induction into the United States Animal Rights Hall of Fame.

Lawrence Krauss is an author, professor, physicist, public intellectual and director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University. A renowned theoretical physicist, Krauss also is a best-selling author, is chair of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and was named Humanist of the Year in 2015 by the American Humanist Association.

“The greatest ethical challenges facing us in the 21st century will involve questions of food, our changing view of life and consciousness in both humans and other animals, and the way we treat the end of life,” said Krauss. “Peter Singer has been called one of the world’s most controversial philosophers for his groundbreaking work on just these questions, and he has a well-deserved reputation for pushing us to think deeply and rationally about our ethical responsibilities as human beings. I look forward to a remarkably stimulating discussion that I hope will both entertain and provoke. It will be an evening to remember.”

Tickets for "Singer & Krauss: An Origins Project Dialogue" are available at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts website at www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org/event/singer-and-krauss/ and at the venue’s box office from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Additional information is available at the Origins Project website at origins.asu.edu/events/singer-and-krauss-origins-project-dialogue.

Tickets are $18, or $45 for VIP. ASU students with proper ID can receive free tickets (limited seating) but must get the tickets in person at the box office.  

As a companion event to the Singer & Krauss Dialogue, the Origins Project will host a free, on-campus panel featuring Peter Singer and select ASU faculty members discussing the ethics of food and sustainability, gender and dying with dignity.  "Evolving Ethics: Food, Sex, and Death" will be held at noon Oct. 16 in the Marston Exploration Theater, Interdisciplinary Science & Technology Building 4 (ISTB4) on ASU’s Tempe campus.  

For more information on Origins Project events, please go to www.origins.asu.edu, or call 480-965-0053.