Steve F. Sapontzis

Steven Frederic Sapontzis (born February 9, 1945) is an American philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at California State University, East Bay who specializes in animal ethics, environmental ethics and meta-ethics.

Life and career
Sapontzis was born in New York City, the son of Zissis Peter and Lea Marie Vial Sapontzis. He obtained his BA from Rice University in 1967, his MPhil in 1970, and PhD from Yale University in 1971; his thesis was entitled Merleau-Ponty and Philosophical Methodology. Sapontzis joined the philosophy faculty at California State University, East Bay, in 1971, and became professor emeritus in 1999.

Sapontzis was co-founder in 1985 of the journal Between the Species: A Journal of Ethics and served as its initial co-editor''.  He was a member of the board of the American Philosophical Quarterly'' (1991–1994), and sat on the animal welfare research committee at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (1986–1990).

In 1983, Sapontzis founded, with his wife, the Hayward Friends of Animals Humane society. They now operate Second Chance, Helping the Pets of People in the Need, in California. Sapontzis was also one of the first members of the board of directors of the Society for the Study of Ethics and Animals.

Sapontzis has authored numerous papers, as well as two books: Morals, Reason, and Animals (1987) and Subjective Morals (2011). He also edited the book Food for Thought: The Debate over Eating Meat (2004).

Books

 * Morals, Reason, and Animals. Temple University Press, 1987.
 * (ed.) Food for Thought: The Debate over Eating Meat. Prometheus Books, 2004.
 * Subjective Morals. University Press of America, 2011.