The Expanding Circle Explained

The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology
Author:	Peter Singer
Country:	United Kingdom; United States
Language:	English
Publisher:	Clarendon Press Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pub Date:	1981
Pages:	xiii + 190

The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology is a 1981 book by Peter Singer bridging the topics of sociobiology and ethics.

Arguments

See also: Moral circle expansion. The central tenet of the book is that over the course of human history, people have expanded the circle of beings whose interests they are willing to value similarly to their own. Originally that circle would have been self, family and tribe, but over time it grew to encompass all other humans.^{[1] [2]} In the book, Singer argues that the circle should be expanded to include most animals:^[3]

The Expanding Circles longest chapter concerns the relationship between reason and ethics. Singer discusses the relationship between biological capacity for altruism and morality. He argues that altruism, when directed to one's small circle of family, tribe or even nation, is not moral, but it becomes so when applied to wider circles. This happens because of human capacity for reason, which "generalizes or universalizes" our altruistic tendencies beyond groups we are biologically inclined to be altruistic to. As such, reason is not the opposite of emotions and instincts but instead builds on it. Hence the book title, the "expanding circle", with the circle being our consideration of whom we can be altruistic to, and the reason for its expansion, reason – a product of both ethics and sociology.

Reception

One reviewer noted that the book is "a remarkable and worthwhile synthesis of the neo-Kantian ethics of the Harvard moral philosopher John Rawls and the sociobiology of Harvard's E. O. Wilson".^[4] Singer's book was indeed seen as one of the responses to Wilson’s 1975 work, , which argued that understanding ethics can be reduced to understanding our sociobiological programming.^[5] While Wilson's work was at first ignored by moral philosophers, generally seen as controversial and even described as "arrogant", Singer was one of the first moral philosophers to constructively engage with it, arguing that at least some of sociobiology's arguments in general and Wilson's arguments in particular are valuable for further development of our understanding of the field of ethics (also known as moral philosophy).^{[6] [7]}

Editions

A new edition, published in 2011, includes a new afterword by Singer. In it, the author discusses how recent progress in biology and genetics have influenced his thinking, and how it reinforces his original theory.

See also

• Evolutional Ethics and Animal Psychology
• The Universal Kinship

Further reading

• Hoerster. Norbert. 1983. Review of The Expanding Circle. Ethics and Sociobiology. Erkenntnis (1975-). de. 20. 3. 377–381. 0165-0106. 20010888. 10.1007/BF00166394.
• Manser. Anthony. Singer. Peter. July 1983. The Expanding Circle. The Philosophical Quarterly. 33. 132. 305. 10.2307/2219230. 2219230.
• Clark . Stephen R.L. . July 1985 . The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology by Peter Singer Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981, xiv+190 pp., £6.95. The Shaping of Man: Philosophical Aspects of Sociobiology by Roger Trigg Oxford: Blackwell, 1982, xx+186 pp., £12.50, £6.95 paper . Philosophy . 60 . 233 . 411–413 . 10.1017/S0031819100070285 . 0031-8191.
• 4611206. Denman. Al. Reviewed work: The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology, Peter Singer. The Antioch Review. 41. 1. 114. 1983.
• 2254221. Dent. N. J. H.. Reviewed work: The Expanding Circle., Peter Singer. Mind. 93. 369. 138–140. 1984. 10.1093/mind/XCIII.369.138.
• 3750352. Clark. Stephen R. L.. Reviewed work: The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology, Peter Singer; the Shaping of Man: Philosophical Aspects of Sociobiology, Roger Trigg. Philosophy. 60. 233. 411–413. 1985. 10.1017/S0031819100070285.
• Web site: The Expanding Circle by Peter Singer . Kirkus Reviews.

Notes and References

1. Book: The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Steven Pinker. 4 October 2011. Penguin Publishing Group. 978-1-101-54464-8.
2. Dunstan . G. R. . October 1984 . The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology. By Singer Peter. pp. xiii + 190. (Oxford University Press, 1981. Oxford Paperback, 1983.) £3.95. . Journal of Biosocial Science . 16 . 4 . 542–543 . 10.1017/S0021932000015376 . 0021-9320.
3. Book: Singer, Peter . The Expanding circle: Ethics and Sociobiology . Clarendon Press . 1981 . 978-0-19-824646-6 . Oxford . 120 . en.
4. Browning. Don. 1982-01-01. The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology: By Peter Singer New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1981. 190 pp. $10.95. Theology Today. 38. 4. 539–541. 10.1177/004057368203800440. 0040-5736.
5. Warner. Jonathan. 2014-04-16. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress. The European Legacy. 19. 3. 412–413. 10.1080/10848770.2014.898963. 1084-8770.
6. Caplan. Arthur L.. 1983. Review of Sociobiology and the Preemption of Social Science; The Expanding Circle: Ethics and Sociobiology. Ethics. 93. 3. 603–606. 0014-1704. 2380640. 10.1086/292475.
7. Patience. Allan. March 1984. Book Reviews : THE EXPANDING CIRCLE: Ethics and Sociobiology, by Peter Singer. Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1981, 190 pp. $15.95 (hardback). The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology. 20. 1. 140–142. 10.1177/144078338402000121. 0004-8690.