Is Peter Singer going mainstream?

Charlotte chama a atenção para o mais recente livro de Peter Singer, o mal-amado.
Na minha modesta opinião, é talvez a publicação mais ortodoxa de Peter Singer, já que aponta, no conteúdo e no estilo, para raízes imemoriais, ou talvez mais precisamente para os escritos dos iluministas sobre o «luxo» (depois retomados e celebrizados por Veblen. Cfr. Galliani, Renato (1989), Rousseau, le Luxe et l'Idéologie Nobiliaire. Étude Socio-Historique, Oxford, The Voltaire Foundation at the Taylor Institution; Pallach, Ulrich-Christian (1987), Materielle Kultur und Men­talitäten im 18. Jahrhundert. Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung und politisch-sozialer Funktions­wandel des Luxus in Frankreich und im Alten Reich am Ende des Ancien Régime, München, R. Olden­bourg).
Uma amostra do estilo:
"It is the vanity, not the ease, or the pleasure, which interests us. But vanity is always founded upon the belief of our being the object of attention and approbation. The rich man glories in his riches, because he feels that they naturally draw upon him the attention of the world, and that mankind are disposed to go along with him in all those agreeable emotions with which the advantages of his situation so readily inspire him." - Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, I.iii.2.1