| Stephen Firth 2007-03-27, 5:25 pm |
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http://www.oxfordanimalethics.com/index.php
Welcome
A warm welcome to our website.
Our Centre aims to break new ground for the animals.
We want to put ethical concern for animals on the intellectual agenda,
and contribute to an enlightened public debate about animals.
We believe that the rational case for animals is frequently
understated within academia and misrepresented in the media.
Our aim is to create a world-wide association of academics from all
disciplines who want to pioneer ethical perspectives on animals. We
intend to create a new intellectual force – a select Fellowship -
composed of accomplished academics able to make the ethical case for
animals.
If you are an academic with a record of research or publication in
animal ethics, or someone involved in professional work with animals,
we invite you to ask one of your colleagues to nominate you so that
you can be considered for appointment as a Fellow or an Associate
Fellow.
Whether you are an academic or not, everyone who shares our vision is
invited to support us by becoming an Associate of the Centre.
Our Centre is just beginning. We have many plans and high hopes.
Please help us to realise them by supporting us.
Professor Andrew Linzey
Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
Aims and vision
The Centre
is the first in the world dedicated to enhancing the ethical status of
animals through academic research, teaching, and publication;
is an independent “think tank” for the advancement of progressive
thought about animals;
aims to put animals on the intellectual agenda;
consists of an international fellowship of academics drawn from both
the humanities and the sciences dedicated to pioneering ethical
perspectives;
contributes to thoughtful public debate about animals, and strives to
become a world-class centre of academic excellence.
Animal ethics
is inspired by the work of ethicists and philosophers who have
pioneered new perspectives on animals;
is informed by scientific work indicating that animals are sentient
and possess complex systems of awareness;
seeks to relate these insights to how we treat animals today;
questions the ‘old view’ of animals as simply things, machines, tools,
commodities, or resources, put here for our use, and
holds that all sentient beings have intrinsic value and should be
treated with respect.
We cannot change the world for animals without changing our ideas
about them. Philosophers have led the way in helping us to think
differently about animals.
Academics should now lead the way in furthering ethical attitudes and
contributing to informed public debate.
Our concern is to establish an unashamedly elite school of academics
able to make an effective ethical case for animals.
The Centre is opposed to violence and illegality, and will not appoint
Fellows or Associates who advocate violence.
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