Call for Expression of Interest (November 2024)
Are you a philosopher inspired by the legacy of Mary Midgley? Do you have an interest in fostering non-exploitative relations between humans and wild living animals? Do you enjoy harnessing philosophy and creativity in the aid of envisioning more mutually beneficial human-animal relations than the ones that have come to dominate industrial societies?
We invite expressions of interest to participate in Philosophy in the Wild – Finding Hope in Mixed Communities, a global Women In Parenthesis public philosophy project which builds on the success of Notes from a Biscuit Tin. With the term ‘mixed community’, coined in 1983, Midgley emphasised that humans have never lived apart from other animals. Though she recognises the many ways in which the latter have historically not acquired full membership and thus have eventually been denied adequate recognition, care and rights, Midgley’s criticism was not that of simple ‘anti-speciesism’ and ‘abolitionism’. Instead, she invites us to think about how we can transform communities made up of many species in such a way that all members stand to truly benefit. For Midgley, wild living animals are not excluded from membership of a mixed community as a matter of course. Today, at a time when the biomass of the mammals on this planet is 96% constituted by humans and the domesticated animals they control, with a more than drastic decline of other animals being able to survive, let alone thrive, in the wild, Midgley’s multi-criterial contextualism in animal ethics can help in our efforts to come up with clear-sighted solutions.
This initiative seeks philosophers/animal studies scholars, particularly outside of Western Europe and North America, or with connections to such regions, who can convene local events around Midgley’s iconic biscuit tin, which we are looking to turn into an anthrozoological vasculum – helping in collecting and communicating human-animal relations that are non-exploitative: from mutualistic relations (e.g. between bottlenose dolphins or free-roaming dogs and people), to examples of reparation (such as successful rewilding initiatives or multispecies disaster relief), to futuristic projects in urban design or politics.
Please get in touch if you are:
- a philosopher/animal studies scholar with an interest in Mary Midgley’s work and its relevance to contemporary human-animal relations;
- able to organize an event (field trip, workshop, discussion, or creative session) portraying human-animal interactions that are mutualistic, reparative, or futuristic;
- willing to work with relevant researchers/practitioners;
- willing to co-create multispecies poetry as part of the project and participate in an online workshop on this in 02/25;
- happy to think about how your event could also speak to/include young people.
Participants will receive a detailed briefing, some support in identifying relevant researchers/practitioners and in organizing their events, and an opportunity to showcase their outcomes as part of a global public philosophy project.
Timeline:
- Deadline for Expressions of Interest: December 31, 2024.
- Project Launch: Spring 2025.
- Duration: approximately 12 months.
For more details and to express your interest, please contact:
PD Dr. Mara-Daria Cojocaru at mara-daria.cojocaru@hfph.de
Thank you!