Please join us for a Philosophy Public Lecture with Dr. Andrew Lopez, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (CSU). Dr. Lopez will present “Traveling to Animals Worlds” on Thursday, April 30th at 5 p.m. in the Behavioral Sciences Building, Room A101.

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to developing fruitful connections between animal ethics and feminist philosophy by way of a discussion of ‘worlds’ in the work of philosopher Maria Lugones and biologist Jakob von Uexküll. Lugones’s understanding of worlds and Uexküll’s zoosemiotic approach to an animal’s environment (Umwelt) both elaborate worlds in ways complementary to each other, as constructed and plural frameworks of meaning, sense, and practice. Dr. Lopez argues that we can draw important insights for traveling to the worlds of animals from both Lugones and Uexküll. The former can help us more fully, openly, and lovingly understand animals as subjects of worlds who participate in their construction, while the latter can help us reinterpret ethological research to understand how animals construct worlds, how we are constructed in them, and what kinds of alternative constructions and worlds are possible between humans and animals.