Edward Payson Evans | |
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 Portrait fromHistory of the University of Michigan (1906) | |
| Born | (1831-12-08)December 8, 1831 Remsen, New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 6, 1917(1917-03-06) (aged 85) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | University of Michigan (BA, 1854) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1855–1917 |
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| Spouse | |
Edward Payson Evans (December 8, 1831 – March 6, 1917) was an American scholar, linguist, and educator. His work combinedphilology,literary history, andmoral philosophy. Educated at theUniversity of Michigan, he taughtmodern languages in the United States before continuing his studies at universities inGermany, where he spent much of his career. Evans wrote on subjects includingGerman literature,comparative linguistics, and theethical status of animals. His best-known book,The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals (1906), examined historical records ofanimal trials in Europe. Earlier, inEvolutional Ethics and Animal Psychology (1897), he explored the implications ofevolutionary theory for moral philosophy andanimal consciousness. His writings have since been discussed in relation to the development ofanimal ethics and studies ofhuman–animal relationships.
Evans was born inRemsen, New York, in 1831.[1] His father was the Reverend Evan Evans,[2] a WelshPresbyterian clergyman.[3] Evans earned aBachelor of Arts from theUniversity of Michigan in 1854.[2] He then taught at an academy inHernando, Mississippi, in 1855, before becoming a professor atCarroll University (then Carroll College) inWaukesha, Wisconsin from 1856 to 1857.[4]
From 1858 to 1862, he traveled abroad, studying at the universities ofGöttingen,Berlin andMunich.[5] On his return to the United States, he became professor ofmodern languages at the University of Michigan.[5] In 1868, he married Elizabeth Edson Gibson,[6] and in 1870, Evans resigned his position at Michigan to travel abroad again, where he gathered materials for a history ofGerman literature,[5] and made a specialty of studyingoriental languages.[7]
While living in Munich, he became a fixture at theRoyal Library of Munich,[8] and joined the staff of the political journalAllgemeine Zeitung in 1884.[4] Evans' wife died in 1911 and when theFirst World War broke out in 1914, he returned to the United States, where he lived inCambridge, Massachusetts andNew York City.[8]
Evans died at his home in New York City, on March 6, 1917.[3]
Evans' 1906 bookThe Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals, is considered to be the seminal work on the topic ofanimal trials.[9] In recent years the book has been the subject of several critiques.[10]
Environmental historianRoderick Nash argues that both Evans andJ. Howard Moore, "deserve more recognition than they have received as the first professional philosophers in the United States to look beyond anthropocentrism."[11]Bernard E. Rollin has cited Evans' 1907 bookEvolutional Ethics and Animal Psychology as an example of contemporaries ofDarwin who used histheory of evolution to advocate for the ethical treatment of animals.[12]
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