CFP: Forgotten Animals

Historically, animals have been forgotten or ignored by political philosophy. Sometimes, it has been assumed that moral questions about animals lack a political dimension. Other times, animals’ exclusion reflects apathy about their fates. Often, why animals are excluded is unclear. Recently, this neglect has been challenged by the ‘political turn’ in animal ethics, which explores how political ideas, institutions and policies affect animals, and how they might be transformed for animals’ benefit.

The political turn has challenged the anthropocentric bias of political philosophy, forcing political theorists to notice nonhuman animals. Consequently, animal ethics is now more mainstream in political philosophy and political philosophy more mainstream in academic conversations about animals. But, while inroads have been made to extend political philosophy beyond humanity, the project of making animals visible has only just begun. As part of this project, this conference brings together political philosophers and scholars from cognate areas under the theme of ‘forgotten animals’. 

We propose to discuss topics including, but not limited to:

• Animals overlooked by scholars of animal politics. This might include invertebrate animals; marine animals; animals not yet born (or those long dead); or non-sentient animals.

• The exclusion of animals from established areas of inquiry, such as international political theory, the problems of political authority and legitimacy, relations of power, paternalism etc.

• Political traditions that have yet to fully grapple with questions of animal rights, including conservatism, libertarianism, communitarianism, and realism.

• Issues of philosophical method. What does inclusive animal politics look like? When are generalisations about animals problematic or even politically dangerous? How might we talk about ‘animals’ without denying the diversity and difference in the animal kingdom?

• Political philosophers whose work offers potential for inclusion in the political turn despite not directly addressing the animals issue, or whose work on animal politics has been neglected or overlooked.

Keynote speakers: Saskia Stucki and Chris Armstrong.

Organisers: Angie Pepper, Josh Milburn, Matthew Perry, Sara van Goozen, Alasdair Cochrane, Steve Cooke. 

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words to [email protected] by end of day Friday 13th June. Abstracts should be suitable for a 30 minute presentation and will be subject to a blind review process. Successful proposals will be notified by 30th June.

Refreshments and a buffet lunch will be provided. Conference fees will be dependent upon numbers, but we anticipate these being no more than £40.

A small number of bursaries will be available for early career scholars and those on precarious contracts to help with conference fees and accommodation. If you wish to be considered for a bursary please indicate this and include a sentence or two explaining why with your abstract.

The conference is sponsored by the Society for Applied Philosophy. Publications arising from the event should acknowledge the Society for Applied Philosophy. We aim to make the conference accessible in accordance with the BPA/SWIP guidelines.