Public Presentation

We are partnering with Cape Breton University’s Animal Ethics Project to 

host a public presentation on animal ethics by Professor Alice Crary 

(Oxford University).

 

The presentation kicks off the beginning of the conference and fits the theme of feminist philosophical theory interrogating who are insiders and who are outsiders. From past views of animals as wholly distinct from humans, not having anything like beliefs, emotions, pleasures, or pains (following Descartes), philosophy has progressed to regard animals as not only possessing similar emotions to us such as jealousy, love, and grief, but also possessing beliefs and other forms of cognition indicative of having minds. 

 

In taking a feminist philosophical approach, Professor Crary addresses the moral status of animals as a group unjustly treated through current industrialized models of food production and scientific inquiry impervious to animal cognition and emotion. Including animals within the circle of who counts within moral and political theory highlights significant connections between humans and animals while expanding moral insight and imagination. 

 

The theoretical point is that including animals inside philosophical reasoning evidences feminist theorizing through addressing a marginalized group subject to systematic injustice. The practical point is that including animals within the scope of philosophical theory bears impact for policies and practices.

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The public presentation is at 12:00pm Friday, September 28, 2018 in the Library at Cape Breton University (main floor, reading commons) and is free for the general public.