ANIMAL FORUM

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 worlds 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 worlds
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 Centres 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 Centres
website: www.oxfordanimalethics.com. The Centre is named
after the distinguished Spanish Philosopher, Jos