Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why

Mon, March 2, 2026
Dinner Program
Jeff Sebo

Jeff Sebo, director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy at New York University and author of The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves, will discuss current debates about the sentience and moral status of nonhumans. Can insects experience happiness and suffering? Can AI systems have desires and preferences? How should we treat them when we feel unsure, and what follows for our practices, policies, and priorities?

 

Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, Director of the Food Impact Program, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. 

He is the author of The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves and co-author of Chimpanzee Rights and Food, Animals, and the Environment. He is also an advisory board member at the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, an advisory board member at the Insect Welfare Research Society, an advisor at Eleos AI, and a senior affiliate at the Institute for Law & AI. 

In 2024 Vox included him on its Future Perfect 50 list of "thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place."

Professor Sebo's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at CMC.

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Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

Claremont McKenna College
385 E. Eighth Street
Claremont, CA 91711