Animal Liberation, 1975-2025 and beyond

This International Interdisciplinary Conference marks the publication of a new, definitive edition of the classic Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. It aims to gather scholars from around the world to discuss progress made since the original publication (1975), as well as remaining challenges to be faced on related topics. We welcome submissions on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:

• The ideas developed in Animal Liberation: speciesism, the principle of equal consideration of interests, etc.

• Peter Singer’s intellectual journey: modifications in the latest edition of Animal Liberation, his contribution to effective altruism, the influence of Animal Liberation on contemporary animal studies, etc.

• The animal rights movement: the history and sociology of the movement, progress made so far, the contribution of effective altruism to the contemporary animal liberation movement, prospects for future animal emancipation, etc.

• Scientific insights into animal rights and welfare: research on animal sentience and the evolution of categorizations determining who “counts” and who “does not count” ethically, animal welfare measurement and cross-species comparisons, psychological determinants of speciesist attitudes and other discriminatory attitudes, animal welfare economics, etc. 

Our goal is to stimulate interdisciplinary discussions from fields that might have tackled these questions in isolation and with distinct approaches. We thus welcome submissions from all disciplines, including, but not limited to the following: behavioral ecology, biology, cultural studies, economics, law, literature, moral and political philosophy, political science, psychology.

We invite you to submit an abstract (in French or English) for this conference. This proposal of no more than one page will be uploaded onsciencesconf before January 8, 2025.

Travel and accommodation costs for participants cannot be covered. Registration fee for presenters: €70.

Timeline: Deadline for abstracts (400-word summary): January 8, 2025. Notification of acceptance: February 1, 2025. Registration deadline: May 1, 2025. Conference date: June 4-5, 2025

Partners: Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement, Institut Universitaire de France, ORCA Network, CNRS, Research Team Anglophonie : Communautés, Écritures, Université Rennes 2