Rethinking Institutions for Animals

March 7, 2024 - March 8, 2024

DepartmenDepartment of Philosophy, University of Basel

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

 

Speakers:

Alasdair Cochrane
University of Sheffield

Steve Cooke
University of Leicester

Angela K. Martin
University of Basel

Friderike Spang
University of Lausanne


Organisers:

Angela K. Martin
University of Basel

Emnée van den Brandeler
(unaffiliated)

 

Program

Day 1 Thursday 07.03.24

9:00 - 9:10 Welcome

9:10-10:10 1. Institutional Virtues in the Zoopolis
Steve Cooke

Associate Professor of Political Theory, University of Leicester, UK

10:10-11:10 2. The All-Affected Principle and (Its Democratic Extent of) Animals

David Mathias Paaske

PhD Student, Department of Philosophy, The Arctic University of Norway, Norway

11:10-11:30 Coffee break

11:30-12:30 3. Exploring the systematic dimension of speciesism: a perspective from political and social philosophy

Sarah Zanaz

PhD Student, Department of Philosophy, University of Strasbourg, France

12:30-14:15 Lunch break

Mandir, Schützenmattstrasse 2 CH-4051 Basel

14:15-15:15 4. (Animal) Politics, Human Deliberation and Animal Representation

Angela Martin

SNSF PRIMA Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Basel, Switzerland

15:15-16:15 5. Animals and Deliberative Institutions: The case of mini-publics

Friderike Spang

SNSF Senior Researcher, Centre of Public Law, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

16:15-16:45 Coffee break

16:45 -17:45 6. Knowledge building is essential for the transition to just institutions for urban
animals

Ciska de Ruyver (Co-authors: Claire Diederich, Christel Moons, Karin Hannes)

Researcher, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University de Namur, Belgium

18:00 Dinner, Restaurant TBD

 

Day 2 Friday 08.03.2024

9:00-10:00 7. Animals, Innocence and the Institution of War
Alasdair Cochrane

Professor of Political Theory, Department of Politics and International Relations,

University of Sheffield, UK

10:00-11:00 8. Epistemic Responsibilities of Public Institutions in the Human-Animal
Relationship

Emnée van den Brandeler

SNSF PRIMA PhD Student, Department of Philosophy, University of Basel, Switzerland

11:00-11:20 Coffee break

11:20-12:20 9. Animals, Institutions, and the problem of unwilling majorities

Nico Müller

Assistant / Postdoc, Department of Philosophy, University of Basel, Switzerlan

12:20-14:00 Lunch break
Restaurant TBD

14:00-15:00 10. Reforming the legal system: Including and protecting animals’ interests

Zorana Todorovic

Research Associate, University of Belgrade, Serbi

15:00-16:00 11. A bird in the hand is worth half in the courts: An account of animals’ legal invisibility
Serrin Rutlegde-Prior

Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Australia

16:00-16:30 Coffee break

16:30 -17:30 12. Rethinking the Legitimate Grounds for Dietary Guidance from Medical

Professionals

Brian A. Berkey (co-author: Keri Rosen)

Associate Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics
University of Pennsylvania, US

18:00 Dinner

CHOI Asian Garden, Feldbergstrasse 23, CH-4057