Steve F. Sapontzis | |
|---|---|
| Born | Steven Frederic Sapontzis February 9, 1945 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Spouse | Jeanne Marie Gocker (m. 1992) |
| Education | |
| Education |
|
| Thesis | Merleau-Ponty and Philosophical Methodology (1971) |
| Philosophical work | |
| Institutions | California State University,East Bay |
| Main interests | |
| Notable works | Morals, Reason, and Animals (1987) |
| Website | stevesapontzis.com |
Steven Frederic Sapontzis (born February 9, 1945) is an American moral philosopher. He is professor emeritus of philosophy at California State University, East Bay and specializes in animal ethics, environmental ethics and meta-ethics. His best known work is Morals, Reason, and Animals , published in 1987. Sapontzis' philosophy advocates for extending moral personhood and ethical consideration to animals based on their capacity for interests and suffering, challenging anthropocentric norms and speciesism, and instead promoting empathy, vegan activism, and systemic change to reduce animal exploitation.
Steven Frederic Sapontzis [1] was born in New York City, the son of Zissis Peter and Lea Marie Vial Sapontzis on February 9, 1945. [2]
Sapontzis obtained his BA from Rice University in 1967. He then studied at the University of Paris from 1967 to 1978, before enrolling at Yale University where he earned his MPhil in 1970, and PhD. [3] His thesis is entitled Merleau-Ponty and Philosophical Methodology. [4]
Sapontzis joined the philosophy faculty at California State University, East Bay, in 1971, becoming professor emeritus on his retirement in 1999. [3]
Sapontzis was co-founder, in 1985, of the journal Between the Species: A Journal of Ethics and served as its initial co-editor. [5] He was a member of the board of the American Philosophical Quarterly (1991–1994), and sat on the animal welfare research committee at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (1986–1990). [6] Sapontzis was also one of the first members of the board of directors of the Society for the Study of Ethics and Animals. [2]
Sapontzis has published numerous academic papers. [7] He has also authored two books. Morals, Reason, and Animals (1987) examines issues related to speciesism and the moral consideration of nonhuman animals, and has been described in retrospect as a notable and original work of its time. [8] His second book, Subjective Morals, published in 2011, critically examines the foundations, benefits, and harms of moral values, challenging traditional moral philosophy and proposing ways to balance their positive and negative impacts. [9] He additionally edited the volume Food for Thought: The Debate over Eating Meat (2004). [10]
In 1983, Sapontzis and his future wife established Hayward Friends of Animals, to create a volunteer initiative supporting their local municipal animal shelter. [11] He married Jeanne Marie Gocker on December 25, 1992. [2] They now operate Second Chance, Helping the Pets of People in the Need, an initiative aimed at providing assistance to financially disadvantaged individuals caring for companion animals in California. [11]
Sapontzis criticises traditional anthropocentric ethics and argues that animals should be included within the moral community on the basis of their capacity for interests and suffering. He maintains that moral personhood ought not to be restricted to humans but should extend to any being capable of having interests, a view that, in his account, includes many nonhuman animals. Sapontzis distinguishes between metaphysical personhood, which he associates with being human, and moral personhood, which he associates with capacities such as rationality, choice and the possession of interests. On this basis, he argues for an ethical standpoint that does not treat speciesism as a legitimate boundary for moral concern. [6]
Sapontzis also critiques practices such as humane slaughter, contending that the large-scale killing of animals for food involves suffering and the loss of potentially valuable future experiences, even when physical pain at the time of killing is reduced. He argues that genuinely humane treatment would require recognising animals' interests and refraining from treating them solely as resources. In his view, this critique extends to social norms that place human preferences above the interests of animals and reveals tensions within prevailing ethical attitudes to animal use. [6]
For Sapontzis, animal liberation requires not only legal reforms but also changes in human attitudes toward animals. He sees the cultivation of empathy and moral reflection as important for reducing the exploitation of animals. In this context he assigns a central role to vegan activism and education, which he regards as helping to draw attention to the suffering of animals and to encourage changes in behaviour. At the same time, he describes the difficulties of achieving far-reaching change and stresses the importance of incremental measures, such as higher welfare standards and reduced meat consumption, as steps towards broader ethical reform. [6]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
