Ryan Wilcox

Ryan Wilcox is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Philosophy under the supervision of Will Kymlicka. His research is motivated by a desire to develop a truly interspecies approach to political philosophy. The dominant trend in political philosophy is to treat animals as problems of extension, or as entities to be considered after-the-fact. Indeed, this is almost always the case where animals are afforded consideration. In opposition to this, Ryan joins a growing number of philosophers demanding that we re-orient ourselves to understand problems in political philosophy as always already interspecies in nature. In his doctoral project, Ryan is expanding upon the growing literature related to the social-membership model of animal rights, which argues that domesticated animals should be recognized as members of society. His research explores a number of conceptual and substantive challenges that arise when we rethink our ideas of membership and society in interspecies terms. Additionally, Ryan works with other members of the Kingston Interspecies Community (KISC) research group exploring the lives of animals at farmed animal sanctuaries.