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Jeff Sebo

{{short description|American philosopher}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{Infobox philosopher

| name = Jeff Sebo

| image = File:JeffHiResEdit114.jpg

| caption = Sebo in 2021

| birth_name = Jeffrey Raymond Sebo

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1983|02|24}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse = {{Marriage|Maryse Mitchell-Brody|2014|2022|end=div.}}

| education = {{plainlist|

}}

| notable_works = {{Plainlist|

}}

| era = Contemporary philosophy

| institutions = New York University

| thesis_title = The Personal Is Political

| thesis_url = https://jeffsebodotnet.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/the-personal-is-political.pdf

| thesis_year = 2011

| doctoral_advisor = J. David Velleman

| main_interests = {{hlist|Animal ethics|bioethics|environmental ethics|agency|well-being|moral status|moral philosophy|legal philosophy|political philosophy|ethics of activism|ethics of advocacy|ethics of philanthropy}}

| website = {{URL|https://jeffsebo.net/|jeffsebo.net}}

}}

Jeffrey Raymond Sebo (born February 24, 1983){{Cite tweet|number=1364575854416846851|user=jeffrsebo|title=Today is my birthday! Please help me celebrate by sharing a surprising fact about an animal that more people should know. Photos very welcome too. Thanks!|author=Jeff Sebo}} is an American philosopher and animal rights activist. He works at New York University, where he is an associate professor of environmental studies and an affiliated professor of bioethics, medical ethics, philosophy, and law. He is the director of the university's Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, director of the university's Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and co-director of the university's Wild Animal Welfare Program.{{Cite web|title=Jeff Sebo|url=https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/faculty/jeff-sebo.html|accessdate=April 28, 2024|website=NYU Arts & Science}} Sebo specializes in animal ethics, bioethics, and environmental ethics; agency, well-being, and moral status; moral, legal, and political philosophy; ethics of activism, advocacy, and philanthropy. In 2022, he published his first sole-authored book, Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves. This was followed by The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why in 2025.

Early life and education

Sebo is the son of Sheryl L. Sebo, an organist, and Eric J. Sebo, a systems special operations manager, of Plano, Texas. He studied philosophy and sociology at Texas Christian University, graduating summa cum laude with a BA in 2005. In the same year, he published his first academic article, "A Critique of the Kantian Theory of Indirect Duties to Animals," in Animal Liberation Philosophy & Policy.{{cite journal |last1=Sebo |first1=Jeff |date=2005 |title=A Critique of the Kantian Theory of Indirect Duties to Animals |url=https://jeffsebodotnet.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/a-critique-of-the-kantian-theory-of-indirect-duties-to-animals1.pdf |journal=Animal Liberation Philosophy & Policy |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=54–72 |access-date=October 1, 2021}} During his studies, he founded two animal rights groups in Fort Worth, Texas, one that hosted movie nights and ran leafletting campaigns and another that facilitated care for feral cats.{{Cite interview|last=Sebo|first=Jeff|interviewer=Jessica Porter|title=Platter Chatter|url=http://endeavors.unc.edu/platter_chatter/|date=2016-05-04}} Sebo completed his PhD at New York University in 2011. His dissertation, The Personal Is Political, was supervised by Derek Parfit, John Richardson, Sharon Street, and J. David Velleman (chair of the committee).{{cite web|url=https://jeffsebo.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/jeff-sebo-cv.pdf|date=January 2022|author=Sebo, Jeff|accessdate=April 28, 2025|title=Curriculum vitae}}

Career

After graduating, Sebo took a postdoc at New York University (NYU) in animal and environmental studies until 2014, when he took up a one-year postdoctoral position in bioethics with the National Institutes of Health. From 2015 to 2017, Sebo worked as a research assistant professor of philosophy at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was the associate director of the Parr Center for Ethics at the university. He returned to NYU in 2017 as a clinical assistant professor in environmental studies, with affiliate roles in bioethics, medical ethics, and philosophy. From 2018, he was the founding director of NYU's MA in animal studies; this was integrated in the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, also founded in 2018, which was directed by Dale Jamieson.{{Cite web | title=Transition for Center for Environmental and Animal Protection and the Animal Studies M.A. Program | url=https://as.nyu.edu/departments/environment/news/the-nyu-department-of-environmental-studies-announces-leadership.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240513071050/https://as.nyu.edu/departments/environment/news/the-nyu-department-of-environmental-studies-announces-leadership.html | access-date=2025-06-19 | archive-date=2024-05-13}}

Sebo's first book was 2018's Food, Animals and the Environment: An Ethical Approach, a book devoted to food ethics, co-authored with Christopher Schlottmann.Reviews of Food, Animals and the Environment:

  • {{cite news|last=Berry|first=Sarah|date=March 13, 2019|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|title=Why the debate between vegans and meat-eaters is pointless|url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/why-the-debate-between-vegans-and-meat-eaters-is-pointless-20190312-p513hm.html}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Hedberg|first=Trevor|doi=10.5840/eip2020211/28|issue=1|journal=Essays in Philosophy|pages=120–123|title=none|volume=21|year=2020|doi-access=free}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Johannsen|first=Kyle|date=November 2019|issue=4|journal=Philosophy in Review|pages=206–208|title=Review|url=https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/18944/8401|volume=39}} In the same year, Sebo was among those filing an amicus brief in support of granting legal personhood to chimpanzees.{{Cite web|last=Venkatraman|first=Sakshi|date=2018-04-16|title=Professor Thinks Chimpanzees Should Be Legally Considered People {{!}} Washington Square News|url=https://nyunews.com/2018/04/15/04-16-news-chimp/|access-date=2020-10-19|website=Washington Square News|language=en-US}} Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosopher's Brief was published by Routledge in 2018; Sebo was one of 13 authors, along with Kristin Andrews, Gary L. Comstock, G. K. D. Crozier, Sue Donaldson, Andrew Fenton, Tyler M. John, L. Syd M. Johnson, Robert C. Jones, Will Kymlicka, Letitia Meynell, Nathan Nobis, and David Pena-Guzman.Reviews of Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief:
  • {{cite journal|last=Benz-Schwarzburg|first=Judith|date=February 2019|issue=1|journal=EurSafe News|pages=10–11|title=Review|url=https://www.eursafe.org/images/newsletter/Eursafe_9_FEBRUARY_2019_LR.pdf|volume=21}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Thompson|first=R. Paul|date=September 2020|doi=10.1086/710398|issue=3|pages=253–254|journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology|title=none|volume=95}}

Sebo was promoted to clinical associate professor in 2020. His first sole-authored book, Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves, was published by Oxford University Press in 2022.Coverage:

  • {{Cite web | url=https://newbooksnetwork.com/saving-animals-saving-ourselves | title=Jeff Sebo, "Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves: Why Animals Matter for… }}
  • {{Cite web|author=Milburn, Josh|date=6 February 2023|title=Episode 210: Saving Animals (And Ourselves) with Jeff Sebo|url=https://knowinganimals.libsyn.com/episode-210-saving-animals-and-ourselves-with-jeff-sebo|publisher=Knowing Animals|accessdate=4 April 2023}}
  • {{cite magazine|author=Bekoff, Marc|authorlink=Marc Bekoff|title= Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves: What Harms Them Harms Us|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/animal-emotions/202301/saving-animals-saving-ourselves-what-harms-them-harms-us|accessdate=4 April 2023|magazine=Psychology Today}}Reviews:
  • {{cite journal|last1=Browning|first1=Heather|last2=Veit|first2=Walter|year=2024|title=Sebo, Jeff. Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves|journal=Ethics|volume=134|issue=3|pages=443-7|doi=10.1086/728630}}
  • {{cite journal|author=Taylor, Angus|year=2023|title=Review of Jeff Sebo's Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves|url=https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bts/vol26/iss1/10/|journal=Between the Species|volume=26|issue=1|pages=179–84}}
  • {{Cite journal|author=Milburn, Josh|year=2023|doi=10.5840/enviroethics202345254|title=Jeff Sebo. Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves: Why Animal Matter for Pandemics, Climate Change, and Other Catastrophes|journal=Environmental Ethics|volume=45|issue=2|pages=203–206|s2cid=259491615 }}
  • {{cite journal|author=Armstrong, Chris|authorlink=Chris Armstrong (political theorist)|year=2023|title=Animal flourishing in a time of ecological crisis|journal=European Journal of Political Theory|doi=10.1177/14748851231196013|doi-access=free}}
  • {{cite journal|author=Perry, Matthew Wray|date=2023|title= Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves: Why Animals Matter for Pandemics, Climate Change, and other Catastrophes, written by Jeff Sebo |journal=Journal of Moral Philosophy|volume=20|issue=3-4|pages=350-53|doi=10.1163/17455243-20030005|doi-access=free}}
  • https://philpapers.org/rec/JOHSAS-11 NYU launched its Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program (directed by Sebo){{Cite web | title=NYU’s Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program Will Address Questions Surrounding Non-Human Minds | url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/june/nyu-s-mind--ethics--and-policy-program-will-address-questions-su.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616234351/https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/june/nyu-s-mind--ethics--and-policy-program-will-address-questions-su.html | access-date=2025-06-19 | archive-date=2022-06-16}} and its Wild Animal Welfare Program (co-directed by Sebo and Becca Franks) in the same year.{{Cite web | title=NYU Launches Wild Animal Welfare Program | url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/september/nyu-launches-wild-animal-welfare-program.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928121031/https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/september/nyu-launches-wild-animal-welfare-program.html | access-date=2025-06-19 | archive-date=2022-09-28}} The following year, he became an associate professor and the deputy director of the Centre for Environmental and Animal Protection.{{Cite web| title=Jeff Sebo, curriculum vitae | url=https://jeffsebo.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/jeff-sebo-cv-7.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250503114539/https://jeffsebo.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/jeff-sebo-cv-7.pdf | archive-date=2025-05-03}} The Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, of which Sebo was the founding director, was launched in 2024, funded by endowments from The Navigation Fund and Macroscopic Ventures.{{Cite web | title=NYU Creates Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy | url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2024/june/nyu-creates-center-for-mind--ethics--and-policy.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919153945/https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2024/june/nyu-creates-center-for-mind--ethics--and-policy.html | access-date=2025-06-19 | archive-date=2024-09-19}} Sebo became the director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection in 2024, Jamieson having retired from the NYU faculty in 2022, with Franks taking over as director of the animal studies MA programme.

In 2024, Sebo, along with Jonathan Birch and Kristin Andrews, launched the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness.{{Cite web |last=Falk |first=Dan |date=2024-04-19 |title=Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness, Experts Declare |url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/ |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=Quanta Magazine |language=en}} Sebo was included in Vox's 2024 "Future Perfect 50", a list highlighting individuals making significant contributions to a better future.{{Cite web |last=Walsh |first=Bryan |date=2024-11-21 |title=The 2024 Future Perfect 50 |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/386449/2024-future-perfect-50-progress-ai-climate-animal-welfare-innovation |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=Vox |language=en-US}}

His second sole-authored book, The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why, was published in 2025 by W. W. Norton,Reviews and commentary:

  • {{Cite journal |last=Gellers |first=Joshua C. |date=2025-02-21 |title=Morality in a more-than-human world |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu6588 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=387 |issue=6736 |pages=833–833 |doi=10.1126/science.adu6588 |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}
  • {{Cite web |last=Marshall |first=Michael |date=2025-01-29 |title=The Moral Circle review: This look at animal consciousness is a moral workout – in the best way |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26535284-100-this-look-at-animal-consciousness-is-a-moral-workout-in-the-best-way/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}}
  • {{Cite web |last=Bekoff |first=Marc |author-link=Marc Bekoff |date=2025-01-28 |title='The Moral Circle': A Riveting Expansion of Ethical Concerns |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/animal-emotions/202501/the-moral-circle-a-riveting-expansion-of-ethical-concerns |access-date= |website=Psychology Today |language=en}} and Sebo became the principle investigator of NYU's new Wildlife Inclusive Local Development (WILD) Lab.{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=NYU Launches the Wildlife Inclusive Local Development (WILD) Lab |url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2025/may/nyu-launches-the-wildlife-inclusive-local-development--wild--lab.html |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=NYU |language=en}} As of 2025, he is an associate professor of environmental studies and an affiliated professor of bioethics, medical ethics, philosophy, and law. He is the director of the university's Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, director of the university's Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and co-director of the university's Wild Animal Welfare Program.

=NGO work=

Sebo has been a board member of Minding Animals International since 2014, a mentor and contributing writer at Sentient Media{{Cite web |title=Jeff Sebo, Author at Sentient Media |url=https://sentientmedia.org/author/jeffsebo/ |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=Sentient Media |language=en-US}} from 2020 and a senior research affiliate at the Legal Priorities Project since 2021; he was an executive committee member of the Animals & Society Institute from 2012 to 2020, board member of Animal Charity Evaluators from 2015 to 2021 and an advisory member of the Sentience Institute from 2018 to 2020.

Personal life

In 2014, Sebo married Maryse Mitchell-Brody, a psychotherapist, in a ceremony officiated by a Universal Life minister.{{Cite news|date=2014-07-06|title=Maryse Mitchell-Brody and Jeffrey Sebo|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/fashion/weddings/maryse-mitchell-brody-and-jeffrey-sebo.html|access-date=2020-10-22|issn=0362-4331}} The couple lived together in Brooklyn, New York, with their dog Smoky until their separation and divorce in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Jeff Sebo |url=https://www.routledge.com/authors/i18143-jeff-sebo?srsltid=AfmBOopqsibQZCkMoftvjGDz5WvZeJYk1fC75DjvWFQpwDNbLI6BIKg4 |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=Routledge}}{{Cite Instagram |postid=CYeVm-ZuEFz |user=itsmarysemb |title=Hey friends, I wanted to let you all know that my partner @jeffrsebo and I have been in the most loving amicable separation and divorce process imaginable since last summer, and I’ll be moving out of our apartment in Brooklyn and moving upstate with my partner @raincorbyn in June. Jeff will be staying in Brooklyn. This is all a good thing, and we welcome your support. |first=Maryse |last=Mitchell-Brody |date=2022-01-08}}

Selected publications

  • {{Cite book |last=Sebo |first=Jeff |url= |title=The Moral Circle |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-324-06480-0 |location=}}
  • {{Citation |last=Sebo |first=Jeff |title=Wild animals |date=2022-07-05 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315768090/chapters/10.4324/9781315768090-8 |work=The Routledge Companion to Environmental Ethics |pages=63–71 |edition=1 |place=New York |publisher=Routledge |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315768090-8 |isbn=978-1-315-76809-0 |access-date=2022-08-27|url-access=subscription }}
  • {{Cite book |last=Sebo |first=Jeff |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/41497 |title=Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-19-086101-8 |location=Oxford}}
  • {{Cite web|url=https://aeon.co/essays/we-cant-stand-by-as-animals-suffer-and-die-in-their-billions|title=All We Owe to Animals|last=Sebo|first=Jeff|date=15 January 2020|website=Aeon}}
  • {{Cite news |last=Sebo |first=Jeff |date=2018-04-07 |title=Should Chimpanzees Be Considered ‘Persons’? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/07/opinion/sunday/chimps-legal-personhood.html |access-date= |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
  • {{Cite book|first1=Kristin|last1=Andrews|first2=Gary L|last2=Comstock|first3=G.K.D.|last3=Crozier|first4=Sue|last4=Donaldson|first5=Andrew|last5=Fenton|first6=Tyler M|last6=John|first7=L. Syd M|last7=Johnson|first8=Robert C|last8=Jones|first9=Will|last9=Kymlicka|first10=Letitia|last10=Meynell|first11=Nathan|last11=Nobis|first12=David|last12=Pena-Guzman|first13=Jeff|last13=Sebo|url=https://philpapers.org/archive/ANDCRT-2.pdf|title=Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers' Brief|publisher=Routledge|others=Kristin Andrews, Gary Comstock, G. K. D. Crozier, Sue Donaldson, Andrew Fenton, Tyler John, L. Syd M. Johnson, Robert Jones, Will Kymlicka, Letitia Meynell, Nathan Nobis, David M. Pena-Guzman|year=2018|isbn=978-1-138-61866-4|location=Abingdon}}
  • {{Cite book|last1=Schlottmann|first1=Christopher|title=Food, Animals and the Environment: An Ethical Approach|last2=Sebo|first2=Jeff|publisher=Routledge|year=2018|isbn=978-1-138-80112-7|location=Abingdon}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{Official website|https://jeffsebo.net/}}
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlrmgDIzRJk In Conversation with Jeff Sebo: How to Prevent Future Pandemics] (video)
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc2446WOKJg Taking AI Welfare Seriously - Interview with Jeff Sebo] (video)

{{Animal rights|advocates}}

{{Wild animal suffering}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebo, Jeff}}

Category:1983 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American philosophers

Category:Activists from Texas

Category:American animal rights activists

Category:American animal rights scholars

Category:American bioethicists

Category:American ethicists

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American political philosophers

Category:Animal ethicists

Category:Environmental ethicists

Category:Medical ethicists

Category:New York University alumni

Category:New York University faculty

Category:People associated with effective altruism

Category:Philosophers from Texas

Category:Texas Christian University alumni

Category:Writers from Texas