Infactoverthelastfifteen years,academicphilosophy has
playedamajorroleinfosteringand supportingtheAnimal
Liberationmovement.Theamountof,activitycanbeseenby
aglanceatCharlesMagel’srecentbibliographyofbooksand
articles on animal rights and related issues. From ancient
times to thebeginning of the1970s,Magel findsonly 95
worksworthyofmention,andoftheseonlytwoorthreeare
byprofessionalphilosophers.Duringthenexteighteenyears,
however,Magelfinds 240 worksonanimalsrights,manyby
philosophersteachinginuniversities.^38 Moreover,published
worksareonlypartofthestory;inphilosophydepartmentsall
over the UnitedStates, Australia, Britain, Canada, and in
many other countries too, philosophers are teaching their
students about the moral status
of animals. Many of them are also working actively for
change with animal rights groups, either on campus or off.
Of course, philosophers are not unanimous in support of
vegetarianismandAnimalLiberation—whenweretheyever
unanimousaboutanything?Buteventhosephilosopherswho
have been critical of claims made by their colleagues on
behalfof animals haveacceptedimportantelementsof the
caseforchange.ForexampleR.G.FreyofBowlingGreen
StateUniversity,Ohio,whohaswrittenmoreinoppositionto
myviewsonanimalsthananyotherphilosopher,beginsone
ofhisarticlesbystatingflatly:“Iamnotanantivivisectionist
...” But he then acknowledges that:
Ihaveandknowofnothingwhichenablesmetosay,apriori,
that a human life of any quality, however low, is more
valuable than an animal life of any quality, however high.