Oscar Horta
Oscar Horta | |
---|---|
Born | Óscar Horta Álvarez 7 May 1974 |
Alma mater | University of Santiago de Compostela |
Awards | Ferrater Mora Prize (2007) |
Era | Contemporary philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | Analytic philosophy |
Institutions | University of Santiago de Compostela |
Thesis | Un desafío para la bioética: la cuestión del especismo ("A Challenge to Bioethics: The Issue of Speciesism") (2007) |
Doctoral advisor | Luis G. Soto |
Main interests | |
Website | masalladelaespecie |
Óscar Horta Álvarez (born 7 May 1974)
Education and career
Horta completed an undergraduate degree in philosophy at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in 1999, going on to complete a doctorate in philosophy at the same institution in 2007. His thesis was entitled Un desafío para la bioética: la cuestión del especismo ("A Challenge to Bioethics: The Issue of Speciesism"). In 2007, he won the Ferrater Mora Prize from the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, for his essay on the ethics of Catalan philosopher José Ferrater Mora.[1]
From 2005 to 2009, he was a lecturer in the Department of Logic and Moral Philosophy at USC. He subsequently took up a visiting researcher position at
Horta co-founded the animal advocacy organisation Animal Ethics in 2012.[4] He has also acted as an organiser and spokesperson for the Spanish animal rights organisations Derechos para los Animales ("Rights for Animals") and Alternativa para la Liberación Animal ("Alternative for Animal Liberation");[5] these organisations later merged to form Equanimal.[6] Horta is a member of the advisory board for the Sentience Institute, UPF-Centre for Animal Ethics, and Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering.[3]
Horta published Making a Stand for Animals, in 2022; his first English-language book.[2]
Philosophical work
Speciesism
Horta has defined speciesism as discrimination against those who do not belong to one or more species, understanding by
Wild animal suffering
Horta argues that, contrary to an "idyllic" view of the wilderness, animals suffer significantly in nature from disease, predation, exposure, starvation, and other threats. Horta rejects speciesism, and thus argues that we have good reason to intervene in natural processes to protect animals from this suffering when it is possible to do so without causing more harm.[14][15][16][17] Current ways of helping include rescues of animals during natural disasters, centres for orphaned, sick, and injured animals, and vaccination and feeding programs.[18] Horta has claimed that such initiatives could be expanded, and that in order to avoid controversies with environmentalists opposing such initiatives, pilot programs could start by focusing on wild animals living in urban, suburban, or agricultural environments.[19] He has also argued that the most promising courses of action right now may consist in gaining more knowledge about the conditions causing wild animal suffering and about how to best carry out measures that can improve the situation of animals affected by natural (or a combination of natural and indirectly anthropogenic) causes.[20] Horta's work on wild animal suffering has been influential,[21] with Jeff McMahan, whose work on wild animal suffering, "The Meat Eaters", appeared in The New York Times, attributing his interest in the question to Horta.[22]
Personal life
Horta is vegan and has commented that "the reason why I decided to go vegan was that I was presented with what I saw as strong arguments to do so, not that I was feeling empathy towards nonhuman animals."[23]
Selected works
Horta has published philosophical work in Spanish, Galician, Portuguese, English, Italian, French, and German.[3]
- Horta, Oscar (2022). Making a Stand for Animals. London: Routledge. S2CID 248280373.
- Horta, Oscar. ISBN 978-1315105840
- Horta, Oscar. 2019. Na defensa dos animais, Rianxo: Axóuxere Editora, ISBN 978-8494855306.
- Horta, Oscar. 2018. "Discrimination against vegans". .
- Horta, Oscar. 2018. "Concern for wild animal suffering and environmental ethics: What are the limits of the disagreement?". Les ateliers de l'éthique 13 (1):85–100.
- Horta, Oscar. 2018. "Moral considerability and the argument from relevance". .
- Horta, Oscar. 2017. "Animal Suffering in Nature: The Case for Intervention". .
- Horta, Oscar. 2017. "Why the concept of moral status should be abandoned". .
- Horta, Oscar. 2017. Un paso adelante en defensa de los animales, Madrid: Plaza y Valdés, ISBN 978-8417121044.
- Horta, Oscar. 2017. "Population Dynamics Meets Animal Ethics", in Garmendia, Gabriel & Woodhall, Andrew (eds.) Ethical and Political Approaches to Nonhuman Animal Issues: Towards an Undivided Future. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 365–389.
- Horta, Oscar. 2015. "Speziesismus", in Ferrari, Arianna & Petrus, Klaus (eds.) Lexikon der Mensch/Tier-Beziehungen, Bielefeld: Transcript, 318–320.
- Horta, Oscar. 2014. "The scope of the argument from species overlap". .
- Horta, Oscar. 2014. Una morale per tutti gli animali: al di là dell'ecologia, Milano: Mimesis, ISBN 978-8857521381.
- Horta, Oscar. 2013. "Zoopolis, Intervention and the State of Nature". Law, Ethics and Philosophy 1: 113–125.
- Horta, Oscar. 2010. "The Ethics of the Ecology of Fear against the Nonspeciesist Paradigm: A Shift in the Aims of Intervention in Nature".
- Horta, Oscar. 2010. "Debunking the idylic view of natural processes: Population dynamics and suffering in the wild". Telos 17 (1): 73–88.
- Horta, Oscar. 2010. "What is speciesism?". .
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Oscar Horta wins Ferrater Mora Prize". Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. 2008-01-03. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
- ^ S2CID 248280373.
- ^ a b c Horta, Oscar. "CV". Academia.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
- ^ "Conversation with Leah McKelvie". Animal Charity Evaluators. 2015-08-19. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
- ^ Horta, Oscar (2010-09-02). "Entrevista con Óscar Horta (castellano)" (Interview). Interviewed by Christian Coeder.
- ^ "Igualdad Animal y Equanimal se unen para defender a los animales" [Animal Equality and Equanimal unite to defend animals]. Igualdad Animal (in Spanish). 2012-11-02. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
- S2CID 19603504.
- S2CID 158150659.
- S2CID 195236790.
- ISBN 978-1-4051-8641-4
- OCLC 57245844.
- OCLC 45356534.
- .
- ^ Horta, Oscar. 2010. "Debunking the idylic view of natural processes: Population dynamics and suffering in the wild". Telos 17 (1): 73-88.
- ISSN 2341-1465.
- .
- ^ "Helping animals in the wild". Animal Ethics. 2013-08-28. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
- .
- .
- ^ Milburn, J. (2020-02-20). "Sentientist politics gone wild". Politics and Animals. 5: 19–24.
- .
- ^ Horta, Oscar (2018-11-04). "Ask the moral philosopher – Q & A with Oscar Horta" (Interview). Interviewed by Christian Koeder.
External links
- Ethics Beyond the Species - Oscar Horta's personal blog
Profiles
Interviews
- Interview with Christian Koeder
- Interview with Animal Charity Evaluators
- Interview with Knowing Animals
- Interview with ARZone