Eva Meijer on Political Animal Voices

The Philosophy Department at Queen’s University is hosting Dutch philosopher Eva Meijer at the department’s weekly colloquium on September 27, at 4pm in Watson Hall 517.

Everyone welcome.

Title: The role of language in interspecies politics: Towards a theory of political animal voices.

Abstract: Research shows that non-human animals have their own languages and cultures. They are individuals with their own perspectives on life, who form social and political relations with human and non-human others. In current legal and political systems, they are however still seen and used as objects. Animal rights theorists challenge this, arguing that non-human animals are sentient beings whose interests should be taken into account morally. In my talk I will argue this is not enough: we should recognize that other animals speak and act politically, and see this as co-constitutive for building new interspecies democracies.