The Philosophy of Animal Rights: A Brief Introduction for Students and Teachers

In this clear elucidation of the philosophy of animal rights, professors Mylan Engel Jr. and Kathie Jenni explore the fundamental outlines of the debate over our duties and responsibilities toward nonhuman animals. They also examine how the issue of animal rights plays out in a classroom setting and address some of the questions that arise for both students and teachers in presenting and studying this subject. In two course syllabi, Engel and Jenni place animal rights in the context of ethical practice and the environmental movement. The book also contains an extensive bibliography of references and philosophical resources.

Mylan Engel Jr. is a philosophy professor at Northern Illinois University, where he received NIU's 2009 excellence in undergraduate Teaching Award. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Arizona. He specializes in epistemology, philosophy of religion, and animal and environmental ethics. Representative publications include: T"ierethik, Tierrechte, und moralische Integrität" [Animal Rights, Animal ethics, and Moral Integrity] in Tierrechte: Eine interdisziplinäre Herausforderung; "Hunger, Duty, and ecology: on What We owe Starving Humans" in Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application; "The Mere Considerability of Animals" in Acta Analytica, "Why YOU Are Committed to the Immorality of eating Meat" in Social and Personal Ethics; and "The Immorality of eating Meat" in The Moral Life. As some of these titles suggest, Mylan is a "moral vegetarian"--that is, he believes we are morally obligated to refrain from eating meat--and has argued that virtually all humans hold beliefs that, if consistently applied, would make them moral vegetarians as well. He is the executive secretary of the Society for the Study of ethics and Animals, a position he has held since 2002.

Mylan grew up in Alabama along the Gulf Coast, where his grandfather and two of his uncles were hog farmers. Steeped in Southern culture, he often went hunting and fishing during the first twenty years of his life. In graduate school, he discovered that eating meat is not necessary for good health. It was then that he realized that all of the suffering he had witnessed animals endure on his uncle's farm served no significant human interest. He became a vegetarian as a result. In 1996, he became vegan and founded NIU's Vegetarian education Group with Lisa Joniak and Ray Dybzinski. He has been faculty advisor for the group ever since. Mylan lives with three cats who graciously share their home with him. He is an avid garden