CFP: Rethinking Institutions for Animals

The Beastly Politics group at the University of Basel is organizing a two-day in person workshop on rethinking and reforming social institutions for sentient nonhuman animals on 7th & 8th of March 2024. The workshop’s topic is situated at the intersection of (animal) ethics and political philosophy.

In the last decade, the animal ethics literature took a political turn, and focused, amongst other things, on political and other social institutions and how they should be changed to be more inclusive of animals. For the workshop, we invite submissions that discuss how social institutions (such as governments, the legal system, but also the media, economy and the education system) should be reformed to properly include animals and their interests.

Confirmed speakers are Prof. Alasdair Cochrane (University of Sheffield), Prof. Steve Cooke (University of Leicester) and Dr. Friderike Spang (University of Lausanne).

Possible topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

• How should our duties towards sentient nonhuman animals be institutionalized on a political level?
• How should animals’ interests be represented during political deliberation?
• According to which criteria can we judge institutions to be just and fair towards animals?
• What institutional circumstances are required to correct for past animal injustices?
• How do we meaningfully embed animal protection into social institutions?
• How should we make the transition towards just institutions for animals?

Abstracts should be between max. 500-1,000 words long and suitable for a 30-minute presentation. We strongly encourage authors from underrepresented groups in philosophy to apply.

Please submit a pdf of your abstract prepared for anonymous review to Emnée van den Brandeler ([email protected]) by 1st of December 2023.

We will inform accepted speakers mid-December. If you have any questions about the workshop, please also contact Emnée via email. 

Important dates:

• Submission deadline: 1st of December
• Decision of acceptance: Mid-December 2023
• Workshop: 7th and 8th of March