Professor White is a Scientific Advisor to the Wild Dolphin Project, a research organization studying a community of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas. He is also an Adviser to the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.

Thomas I. White is the Hilton Professor of Business Ethics and Director of the Center for Ethics and Business at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.  He received his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University and taught at Upsala College and Rider University in New Jersey before moving to California in 1994.  His most recent research has focused on the philosophical implications--especially the ethical implications--of the scientific research on dolphins.

His book on this topic (In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier [Blackwell Publishing, 2007]) addresses the ethical issues connected with human/dolphin interaction—for example, the deaths and injuries of dolphins in connection with the human fishing industry and the captivity of dolphins in the entertainment industry. Thomas White argues that the scientific evidence is now strong enough to support the claim that dolphins are, like humans, self-aware, intelligent beings with emotions, personalities and the capacity to control their actions. Accordingly, White argues, dolphins should be regarded as "nonhuman persons" and valued as individuals. White also concludes that, from an ethical perspective, the injury, deaths and captivity of dolphins at the hands of humans are wrong.

The Year of the Dolphin is proud to welcome Prof. White, who has already held numerous lectures on the topic, as YoD - Ambassador for the year 2008.

To find out more about him and his book, please click here