Peter Singer, Royal Insititution

What is it to act morally? It’s perhaps the most important question of all, and one which Peter Singer has wrestled with his entire career.

In 1971, he wrote an essay entitled ‘Famine, Affluence, and Morality’ in response to starvation in East Bengal. Written with philosophical precision and humanitarian concern, it called for a renewed understanding of our moral duty. Whether or not somebody is standing next to us or the other side of the world, he argued, makes no difference to the responsibility we owe them. If they’re suffering and we’re able to help them, then it’s our duty to do so.

Some thirty three years later, it’s an argument which has retained its urgency. Vast inequality between countries persists, even though the infrastructure for aid has never been better. The essay has understandably become a much-cited, argued over, and endorsed treaty, recently picking up a foreword from Bill and Melinda Gates.

You need only turn on the news to recognise its enduring relevance so make sure to pick up tickets for Singer’s talk at the Royal Institution this June.