Carpentersville teens chat with world-renowned philosopher

Peter Singer's thought-provoking work on ethics and animal rights has taken him to universities across the globe and earned him a spot on Time magazine's annual list of 100 most influential people.

On Tuesday, students at Dundee-Crown High School were able to hear Singer's controversial views on abortion, medical testing and veganism while sitting in a classroom at the Carpentersville school.

Singer, an Australian philosopher who teaches at Princeton University and the University of Melbourne, participated in a videoconference with about 35 students. His talk was part of an ongoing series that aims to expose Dundee-Crown students to leading contemporary thinkers.

Singer, considered one of the founders of the modern animal rights movement, addressed our ethical responsibilities to animals for much of the one-hour talk.

Despite the school setting, Singer did not shy away from the controversial stands that have drawn much attention to his work.

For example, responding to a question about abortion, Singer said, "Being a member of the species homo sapiens doesn't give you any rights. What makes it worse to kill one of us ... is that we have much more developed intellectual capacities. A fetus doesn't have those things, and (therefore) doesn't have a right to life."

Singer, repeating a comparison that has drawn much criticism, likened animals to human babies and developmentally disabled people in arguing for our ethical responsibility to all of them.

While pointing out we are intellectually superior to animals, Singer argued, "We don't have a right to use them for our interests just because they lack those capacities. If babies crawl toward a fire, we pull them back."

Students said after the talk they could broach topics with Singer and the other scholars that would generally be off-limits in the classroom.

"If a teacher did that, he'd get fired," senior Belia Portillo said. "It's good to get that outside perspective."

Bruce Taylor, the social studies teacher who organized the talk, hopes to get more students and members of the community to participate.

"It's humbling to see a freshman come up and ask a question of someone who addresses the United Nations," Taylor said. "What 15-year-old gets that opportunity?"