We would like to invite you to join us for the next talk in CCSAW’s Research Seminar Series on December 6, 2023 at 12:30 p.m. EST.

We are very excited to welcome Dr. Bob Fischer who will be presenting on A Method for Making Interspecies Welfare Comparisons.

We all make interspecies welfare comparisons between animals all the time, often without even thinking about it. They play a role in which welfare issues we are most moved by, which animal charities we give our money to, and perhaps which animal-derived foods we do or don’t purchase. If we’re scientists, they might play a role in which animals we choose to do our research on, and they definitely play roles in the work of IACUCs/Animal Care Committees (where working with 100 mice is typically seen as less preferable to working with 100 zebrafish, but less preferable to working with 100 rhesus monkeys). Finally, animal welfare funders and effective altruism advocates have to make inter-species welfare comparisons when deciding where to target their efforts. (Is tail docking worse for pigs than beak trimming is for chickens, for example, in terms of pain and suffering? If not, how do we weight them?). Dr Bob Fischer will lead us through the assumptions these often implicit decisions are based on, and present a framework for making these comparisons more logical and transparent.

Dr. Bob Fischer is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas State University. He is also a Senior Research Manager at Rethink Priorities, a research and implementation group that aims to improve the world by identifying and developing strategies, projects and solutions to key issues, including animal welfare. Dr. Fischer is also the Director of the Society for the Study of Ethics and Animals. 

Please join us in person in LLC 1714 or online using Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/98442554447