**Education and Career:**
– Completed undergraduate degree in philosophy at the University of Santiago de Compostela in 1999
– Earned a doctorate in philosophy at the same institution in 2007
– Won the Ferrater Mora Prize from the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics in 2007
– Held positions at USC, Rutgers University, and Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
– Co-founded Animal Ethics in 2012 and involved in various animal rights organizations
**Philosophical Work – Speciesism:**
– Defined speciesism as discrimination against those not belonging to one or more species
– Argued against speciesism by analogy to sexism and racism
– Advocated for intervention in natural processes to protect animals from suffering
– Addressed discrimination against nonhuman animals as anthropocentric speciesism
– Presented arguments for intervening to protect animals from suffering in nature
**Philosophical Work – Wild Animal Suffering:**
– Argued animals suffer significantly in nature from various threats
– Advocated for intervention to protect animals from suffering when possible
– Proposed expanding initiatives to help wild animals and gaining more knowledge
– Suggested starting pilot programs focusing on wild animals in specific environments
– Influential work on wild animal suffering inspiring other scholars
**Personal Life and Selected Works:**
– Identified as vegan
– Went vegan based on strong arguments rather than empathy towards animals
– Published philosophical work in multiple languages
– Notable works include ‘Making a Stand for Animals’ and ‘Welfare Biology’
– Contributions in areas such as animal ethics, moral considerability, and environmental ethics
**Publications and Ethical Interventions:**
– ‘What is Speciesism?’ in Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
– ‘Moral Considerability and the Argument from Relevance’ in Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
– ‘The Ethics of the Ecology of Fear against the Nonspeciesist Paradigm’ in Between the Species
– ‘Ethical Interventions in the Wild: An Annotated Bibliography’
– ‘Animal Suffering in Nature: The Case for Intervention’ in Environmental Ethics
Óscar Horta Álvarez (born 7 May 1974) is a Spanish animal activist and moral philosopher who is currently a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Anthropology at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and one of the co-founders of the organization Animal Ethics. He is known for his work in animal ethics, especially around the problem of wild animal suffering. He has also worked on the concept of speciesism and on the clarification of the arguments for the moral consideration of nonhuman animals. In 2022, Horta published his first book in English, Making a Stand for Animals.
Oscar Horta | |
|---|---|
 Horta, 2012 | |
| Born | Óscar Horta Álvarez 7 May 1974 Vigo, Spain |
| 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 |