Phil is a typical speciesist, enjoying veal parmesan, wearing leather, and buying household products that were tested on animals. Never does he question his speciesism—until he goes on a blind date with a vegan named Safiya and shortly after is transported to Égalité, an animal rights utopia of the twenty-fourth century. During his stay in the future, Phil witnesses how, consistently with their animal rights philosophy, Égalitéans live—how they eat and dress, how they work and play, how they conduct science and politics, how they treat companion animals and wild animals.
The tranquility of Égalité gives way to tension when Phil runs into Blake, a friend of his since childhood. Testing pharmaceuticals on animals for a living, Blake perceives Égalité as a personal threat and hatches a scheme to prevent Égalitéans from traveling to the twenty-first century and influencing the past. Phil must make a momentous decision. Will he support Blake’s scheme, or thwart it? Will he help forge a future that denies rights to animals, or accords rights to animals?
Égalité will be enjoyed by lovers of animals, lovers of utopian literature, lovers of philosophy—and anyone who cares about living ethically. It can also be used as an innovative text for college courses on animal rights, applied ethics, and utopian literature.
Timothy Eves received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Connecticut in 1993 and is now an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bridgeport, where he teaches courses such as Animal Rights, Human Rights, Environmental Ethics, and Utopian Literature. Eves has been a vegetarian since 1992.
