Charles Magel | |
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| Born | Charles Russell Magel (1920-06-03)June 3, 1920 Burlington,Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | March 22, 2014(2014-03-22) (aged 93) |
| Occupation(s) | Philosopher, animal rights activist, bibliographer |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | |
| Thesis | An Analysis of Kierkegaard's Philosophic Categories |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Institutions | Moorhead State University |
| Main interests | |
Charles Russell Magel (June 3, 1920 – March 22, 2014) was an American philosopher,animal rights activist andbibliographer. He was professor emeritus of Philosophy and Ethics atMoorhead State University.
Magel was born on June 3, 1920 inBurlington, Iowa,[1] where he grew up on a 150-acre farm with eight siblings. He studied electrical engineering atIowa State College, going on to study atNorthwestern University for three years.[2]
After graduation, he worked as a night clerk at a hotel and served for five years in theUS Naval Reserve during the Second World War.[2] In 1950, inspired byAlbert Schweitzer's autobiographyOut of My Life and Thought, Magel enrolled in graduate school at theUniversity of Minnesota to study philosophy.[2]
Magel submitted his dissertation,An Analysis of Kierkegaard's Philosophic Categories in 1960.[3] In 1962, he initiated a philosophy program atMoorhead State University.[2]
After readingPeter Singer'sAnimal Liberation andTom Regan's "The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism", in 1975, Magel became avegetarian and introduced ananimal rights course onto the philosophy curriculum, making it one of the first university courses completely focused on the topic.[2] He was considered to be a pioneer ofapplied ethics.[4]
He was an outspoken opponent ofanimal testing, once stating: "Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are like us.' Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are not like us.' Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction."[5]
In the 1980 edition ofHenry S. Salt'sAnimals' Rights Considered in Relation to Social Progress, edited by Peter Singer, Magel updated Salt's original bibliography.[6] In 1981, Magel publishedA Bibliography on Animal Rights and Related Matters lists over 3,200 works. He retired from teaching in 1985.[2]
In 1989, Magel authoredKeyguide to Information Sources in Animal Rights a bibliography of works dealing with animal rights. It was positively reviewed as an "outstanding resource that many academic libraries will want to acquire."[7] Another review described it as a "carefully crafted and scholarly overview to the literature and philosophy of the animal rights movement."[8]
Magel published a new edition ofJ. Howard Moore'sThe Universal Kinship in 1992, which included a biographical essay of Moore,[9] and in 1997, he released a new edition ofLewis Gompertz'sMoral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes.[10]
Magel died on March 22, 2014, aged 93.[1] He left Moorhead State University $800,000 to establish the Charles R. Magel Endowment Fund.[11]
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