Tom Regan Memorial Lecture

Rights are the bare minimum we owe to nonhuman animals – this is roughly the consensus among moral and political philosophers. The call for animal rights has increasingly gained traction among academics, practitioners, and activists in recent decades, yet, systematic violence against other animals has not stopped since and shows no sign of slowing down. Part of the problem may be that the past must first be acknowledged, human-animal relationships restored, and reconciliation initiated before just relations may take over the violent present. In short, we need a transitional theory of interspecies justice. This lecture draws the contours of principles of transitional justice for an interspecies society that can be applied prefiguratively to begin building more peaceful and just forms of co-existence with other animals today.

Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

The premier animal rights philosopher of the last half-century and author of many books, including the classic The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan founded the Culture & Animals Foundation (CAF) with his wife, Nancy in 1985. In addition to presenting an annual lecture given in Tom’s name, CAF supports the Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellowship at the Animal Rights Archives at North Carolina State University, awards the annual Nancy Regan Arts Prize, and provides annual grants to scholars and artists engaging with animal rights. CAF’s most recent projects are Martin’s Act at 200, an audio documentary series examining two hundred years of animal advocacy, and chart2050, which encourages communities to create an “Animals Charter” for 2050.

TIR has been advocating as a politically neutral non-profit-organization for the continuous improvement of the human-animal relationship in a legal, ethical, and social sense since 1996. We are dedicated to helping all animals, irrespective of whether they are pets, farm or working animals, laboratory, wild, or sporting animals. Our work is primarily concentrated on legal aspects of animal welfare. Unfortunately, for many humans, treating animals with respect is not a matter of course – a fact that calls for strict and binding rules in the field of animal protection. TIR works to create a solid basis for animal-friendly laws and their consistent enforcement. We offer legal advice and help in individual and general cases concerning animals of all species and believe that the leverage effect of the law plays an essential role in achieving long-term animal protection.