The Chronicle: Colloquy: Responses

Peter Singer rejects the Judeo-Christian ethic based on the sanctity of human life, one man created "in the image and likeness of God," i.e., each human being is a unique and direct effect of God's creative action, endowing man with a rational and immortal soul. Once the premise of humankind's unique status is thus rejected, Dr. Singer's utilitarianism is without strong philosophical opposition. It is difficult, then, to protect the weakest members of our species from the choices of the powerful. Where this leads us can be seen, for example, in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and in C. S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man.

: -- Robert C. Rice, Associate Professor of English, Christendom College (posted 3/10, 2:33 p.m., E.S.T.)

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