“Dolphin Awareness, or, What is it like to be a dolphin?”

This talk explores the issue of how much the outer world (the external, physical environment and a being’s anatomy and physiology) shapes the inner world (awareness, consciousness, self-consciousness).  It begins by approaching the question “Is a dolphin a person?”through a summary of the results of scientific research on the intellectual and emotional abilities of dolphins.  Focusing on key differences between humans and dolphins, it then proceeds to a discussion of ways that the subjective experience between these species may dramatically differ.

Thomas White is the Conrad N. Hilton Professor in Business Ethics and Director of the Center for Ethics and Business at Loyola Marymount University, where he has taught since 1994.  He is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and Scientific Advisor to the Wild Dolphin Project, and he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations’ 2007/2008 Year of the Dolphin.  His most recent book (In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier) explores the ethical implications of contemporary scientific research on dolphins.