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Adviser Publishes Pioneering Work on Dolphins

30th July 2007

In his new book In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier (Blackwell publishing), philosopher Professor Thomas White – an Adviser to the Centre – argues that the scientific evidence is now strong enough to support the claim that dolphins are, like humans, self-aware, intelligent beings with emotions, personalities and the capacity to control their actions. Accordingly, White argues, dolphins should be regarded as ‘nonhuman persons’ and valued as individuals. White also concludes that, from an ethical perspective, the injury, deaths and captivity of dolphins at the hands of humans are wrong. Looking at everything from the structure of the dolphin brain, to cetacean emotional abilities and social intelligence, and the implications of the fact that humans and dolphins have dramatically different evolutionary histories, In Defense of Dolphins explores the idea that, in the person of dolphins, humans have truly encountered an ‘alien intelligence’. More information about the book is here: www.indefenseofdolphins.com, and the book can be ordered online here.