Oscar Horta


Oscar Horta 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 and one of the co-founders of the organization Animal Ethics. He is known for his work in animal ethics, especially around the question 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.

Career

Horta completed an undergraduate degree in philosophy at 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. In 2008, he won the Ferrater Mora Prize from the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, for his essay on the ethics of Spanish philosopher José Ferrater Mora.
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 Rutgers University from 2009-10 and a research fellowship at the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology from 2009-11. He returned to USC in 2011 as a lecturer, and became a professor in 2018.
Besides co-founding Animal Ethics, Horta co-founded Rights for Animals and Liberación Animal. He has acted as a spokesperson for ALA-Alternativa para la Liberación Animal and Fundación Equanimal, and is a member of the advisory board for the Sentience Institute, UPF-Centre for Animal Ethics, and Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering.
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."

Speciesism

Horta has defined speciesism as discrimination against those who do not belong to one or more species, understanding by discrimination an unjustified unequal consideration or treatment. This is a normative account of the concept. According to Horta, if treating animals of different species in different ways is justified then it cannot be considered discriminatory and it is not an instance of speciesism. Horta's account also denies that speciesism is confined to discrimination on the basis of species alone. Horta's account regards as speciesist all forms of discrimination against those who are not members of a certain species regardless of whether the reason is mere species membership or other reasons. He has argued in favor of this position by analogy to sexism or racism, which typically include discrimination against women or racialized people based on criteria such as their alleged capacities. Horta's account of speciesism is also similar to Joan Dunayer's but unlike Paul Waldau's in that he has also argued that discrimination against nonhuman animals is only one instance of speciesism, which can be referred to as anthropocentric speciesism, because it is also possible to discriminate against some nonhuman animals in comparison to others in ways that are speciesist.

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. Current ways of helping include rescues of animals during natural disasters, centres for orphaned, sick, and injured animals, and vaccination and feeding programs. 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. 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 causes. Horta's work on wild animal suffering has been influential, with Jeff McMahan, whose work on wild animal suffering appeared in the New York Times, attributing his interest in the question to Horta.

Selected works

Horta has published philosophical work in Spanish, Galician, Portuguese, English, Italian, French, and German.