Philosophy of Animal Welfare Conference
Conference to be held at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, US, on Friday-Saturday November 20/21, 2026. This conference is organized by the Duke Center for Law, Economics, and Public Policy (CLEPP) and co-sponsored by CLEPP and the NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy.
This conference, “Philosophy of Animal Welfare,” will focus on the nature, measurement, and moral significance of animal well-being. We invite philosophical contributions on the following topics: (1) Which animals are welfare-subjects? (2) What is the appropriate account of well-being for nonhuman animals (be it a hedonic, desire- or preference-based, objective-good, or hybrid theory)? (3) Does the very same account apply to both human and nonhumans (the question of “invariabilism”)? (4) How should animal welfare be measured, on one or another account of well-being? (5) How does animal welfare matter morally? (6) How should uncertainty about any of these topics be managed?
Call for Abstracts
Those interested in presenting at the conference should email an abstract not to exceed 300 words to leanna.doty@law.duke.edu. Please include a current CV. Due date for abstracts: June 1, 2026. Presentations should be based on work-in-progress, rather than already published work. (Working papers available at the conference date will be circulated to participants, but are not required for a presentation.) The conference will be an in-person conference. Zoom presentations are possible, but preference will be given to in-person presentations. The conference sponsors will cover accommodation (up to 3 nights) for those presenting at the conference, and vegan food will be served during the conference. We have limited budget to cover travel by early career scholars (within five years of their degree).
Conference organizer: Matthew Adler, adler@law.duke.edu. Program committee: Matthew Adler (Duke), Heather Browning (Southampton), Bob Fischer (Texas State), Jeff Sebo (NYU).
The conference agenda, including a list of participants, will be available [here] when available. Please contact Leanna Doty (leanna.doty@law.duke.edu) for access.