100 Academics Support New Animal Ethics Centre at Oxford

27 November 2006
Press Release

100 Academics Support New Animal Ethics Centre at Oxford

More than 100 academics from 10 countries have agreed to
become Advisers to the new Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
- to be launched online on Monday (27 November) at
www.oxfordanimalethics.com - which aims to put animals on
the intellectual agenda.

The Centre is the world's first academy dedicated to the
enhancement of the ethical status of animals through academic
publication, teaching and research. Academics world-wide from
both the sciences and the humanities will be eligible to become
Fellows of the Centre. It will act as an international, independent
think tank for the advancement of progressive thought about
animals.

One of the areas of research will be the relationship between
animal abuse and violence to human beings. One of the world's
major writers, who has explored this link - Nobel Laureate in
Literature, Professor J. M. Coetzee - has honoured the Centre
by agreeing to become its first Honorary Fellow. Other projects
being pursued include an online course in animal ethics, a new
monograph series, and a new Journal of Animal Ethics.

The Centre's first director, Oxford theologian, the Revd Professor
Andrew Linzey, said today: "The support of such a large number
of internationally recognised academics underlines just how
important animals are as a moral issue".

"There is a strong rational case for animals, which has been
recognised over the centuries by academics and philosophers.
What is needed is for this rational case to be much better known
and there are now signs that progressive thinking is becoming
mainstream. Importantly, animals are now recognized as sentient
beings in European law; and, in the UK, the most comprehensive -
and long overdue - overhaul of animal welfare legislation for
almost a century is shortly to be enacted into law."

"We must strive to ensure animal issues are highlighted and
rationally discussed throughout society - we cannot change the
world for animals without changing our ideas about them. The
Centre will promote ethical attitudes and contribute to informed
public debate."

Professor Priscilla Cohn, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at
Penn State University, who is the Associate Director of the
Centre, added: "It seems to us that academics should take the
lead in helping to foster a new kind of debate about animals -
one that goes beyond slogans and stereotypes."

The Advisers and the first six Fellows are listed on the Centre's
website: www.oxfordanimalethics.com. The Centre is named
after the distinguished Spanish Philosopher, José Ferrater Mora,
who courageously spoke out against bull-fighting in Spain.

For more information, contact

Professor Andrew Linzey, (+44) (0)1865 201565;
director @ oxfordanimalethics.com (close spaces to email)

or

Professor Priscilla Cohn, (001) 610 525 2957 or 610 525 5089

Notes to Editors:

The Revd Professor Andrew Linzey is a Member of the Faculty of
Theology, University of Oxford, and holds the world's first post in
Ethics, Theology and Animal Welfare - the Bede Jarrett Senior
Research Fellowship at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford. He
has written or edited 20 books, including Animal Theology (SCM
Press/University of Illinois Press, 1994) and Animal Rights: A
Historical Anthology (Columbia University Press, 2005).

Professor Priscilla N. Cohn is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at
Abington College, Penn State University. She has taught courses on
animal ethics for 35 years, and lectured on five continents. Her books
include Contraception in Wildlife, Book 1 (Edwin Mellen Press, 1996)
and Ethics and Wildlife (Edwin Mellen Press, 1999).

The first six Founding Fellows comprise three theologians, two
philosophers, and one scientist from the UK, US, Australia, Armenia
and Canada: Professor Paul Ara Barsam (theologian at the University
of Yerevan, Armenia), Professor Mark Bernstein (philosopher at
Purdue University, USA), Dr Scott Cowdell (theologian at Charles
Sturt University and Rector, St Paul's Anglican Church, Canberra,
Australia), Professor Susan Pigott (Old Testament scholar at
Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas), Professor Mark
Rowlands (philosopher at the University of Hertfordshire), and
Professor Martin Willison (biologist and environmentalist at
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada).