It is generally agreed that human beings have rights, including a right to life and a right not to be harmed, and that, as a result, it is wrong to kill innocent human beings and also wrong to cause them to suffer unnecessarily. Many people think that animals also have rights, including a right to life and a right not to be harmed. These people contend that raising animals in confinement and killing them for food violates these animals’ rights and that, therefore, morality demands that we not eat meat or other animal products. Others contend that it is permissible to kill and eat animals provided that they are raised and slaughtered humanely. Professor Engel, a specialist in epistemology, philosophy of religion, animal ethics, and environmental ethics, will take us on a guided tour of the animal rights debate, so that we can decide for ourselves whether animals have rights and whether we owe animals any moral consideration when deciding how we should act.

Dr. Engel, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University, will speak on Animal Ethics in the Rubloff Auditorium, 25 East Pearson, Chicago, IL, at Loyola University’s Water Tower campus (campus map at www.luc.edu/info/maps/wtc.shtml) from 7-8:15 P.M., Monday 11 April 2005. Q&A will follow from 8:15 to 9:00 P.M. Professor Engel has written a number of papers on animal and environmental ethics and taught courses on Animal Ethics. More information about Professor Engel is at http://www.soci.niu.edu/~phildept/faculty/Engel.html.

This event is free and is open to the public.

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