Philosophy of Animal Minds and Behavior Association

PAMBA 2027 April 27-29 at Warwick. Join us for bluebells, a castle walk, and great talks! Keynotes: Heather Browning @zoophilosophy.bsky.social Cameron Buckner @cameronbuckner.bsky.social Stephen Butterfill Paco Calvo Garzon Marta Halina @martahalina.bsky.social Susana Monsó @susanamonso.com

Good news/bad news. PAMBA people now number over 400! But this means we can no longer use Mailchimp to send free emails. Join the new PAMBA Google Group to say up to date with the Philosophy of Animal Minds! groups.google.com/g/pambalist

We're excited for PAMBA 2027 in Warwick April 27-29! See you there! Abstract submissions due January 7. philevents.org/event/show/1...

The call for papers for the 2027 PAMBA meeting at the University of Warwick is now live. We will update our own website with more information in the coming days, but in the meantime here is the PhilEvents page. philevents.org/event/show/1...

Do non-human animals represent time? New Element in the #PhilBio series by Angelica Kaufmann—free to download until March 16! Kaufmann argues that temporal cognition is widespread across many animal species & advances comparative analyses 👇📕 www.cambridge.org/core/element... #evosky #HPS #cogsci

New open access publication in Topoi! @kristinandrews.bsky.social and I explore the ethics of AI animal translation projects. 🖥️🐬Before we build it, we need to take stock of the ethical implications. rdcu.be/fbZwv 🧵👇1/13

New article for the SEP: an overview of philosophical debates over normative phenomena in animals, including morality, moral agency, social norms, normative thought, and the implications for animal ethics and welfare. I hope it is useful! plato.stanford.edu/entries/anim...

Happy to share this new paper with @kristinandrews.bsky.social. We discuss the logic of recent arguments for the conservation of animal cultures, and what they tend to overlook: animal cultures matter first and foremost because they matter to the animals themselves. link.springer.com/article/10.3...

Conversation with Marc Bekoff about our animal joy project: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anim...

PAMBA Call For Papers and PAMBA Prize announcement coming soon! April 27-29, 2027 at Warwick. Save the date!

Wondering when the next Philosophy of Animal Minds and Behavior Association meeting will be? PAMBA 2027 will be at the University of Warwick on April 27-29, 2027. Confirmed keynotes: Steve Butterfill, Marta Halina, Susana Monsó @martahalina.bsky.social @susanamonso.com Stay tuned for CFP!

The 2026 SSPP conference has a lot of great philosophy of animal minds content! Get your paper submissions in before the Nov 30 deadline and we'll see you there! February 26-28. southernsociety.org

Check out our image gallery from PAMBA Santa Barbara! www.the-pamba.com/events Can you find yourself in these photos? How many species do you count? And thanks to the wonderful @brendadegroot.bsky.social for the School of Santa Barbara illustration which graced the tote bags!

Seeing an old friend might prompt vivid memories of times you spent together. Do other animals have the same kind of memory - episodic memory? @aliboyle.bsky.social and I introduce philosophical issues around such questions in a new Phil. Compass piece doi.org/10.1111/phc3... 1/9

After a great talk by Caroline Ristau we went to the beach to see the plovers. No broken wing displays in sight. #PAMBA25

PAMBA Santa Barbara begins! @simonfitzpatrick.bsky.social examines how and why animal culture matters

We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2025 PAMBA Prize, Giulia Palazzolo @giuliapalazzolo.bsky.social for her paper Toward a bounded hierarchy framework for the study of the evolution of human syntax www.the-pamba.com/prize Congratulations Giulia!

Susana Monsó talks about animal concept of death on the Big Brains podcast. www.youtube.com/shorts/baVga...

PAMBA Santa Barbara schedule now available! www.the-pamba.com/events

Listen to philosopher @JacobBeck talk about his academic journey and his take on animal minds in an interview with Jay Richardson for the podcast @Cognitations. open.spotify.com/episode/3dnc...?

Great to see this coverage of our growing understanding of interspecies animal culture! www.sciencefocus.com/comment/monk...

If you want a little more time before submitting your 1000 word abstract or paper for the PAMBA Prize, you have it! Submissions for the next PAMBA meeting in Santa Barbara (April 24-26) have been extended another week, until Feb 10. www.the-pamba.com/events

One week left for submissions! Colin Allen @wileyprof.bsky.social is organizing a great meeting for us in Santa Barbara, including a field trip to observe the nesting piping plovers.

The second PAMBA meeting will be at UC Santa Barbara April 24-26 2025. Deadline for abstract and paper submissions is Feb 3. Keynote speakers: Dorit Bar-On Laura Danón Simon Fitzpatrick Mark Rowlands A small number of travel bursaries will be available for students. www.the-pamba.com/events

The second PAMBA meeting will be at UC Santa Barbara April 24-26 2025. Deadline for abstract and paper submissions is Feb 3. Keynote speakers: Dorit Bar-On Laura Danón Simon Fitzpatrick Mark Rowlands A small number of travel bursaries will be available for students. www.the-pamba.com/events

The first PAMBA Prize went to Rhys Borchert and Aliya Dewey @aliyardewey.bsky.social for their paper "In Praise of Animals". Who will win the second PAMBA prize? Submissions accepted until February 3, 2025. www.the-pamba.com/prize.

We are pleased to invite submissions for the 2025 PAMBA Prize essay contest in the philosophy of animal minds for early-career researchers. The winning paper will be published in Biology & Philosophy and presented as a keynote at the meeting in Santa Barbara. For details: www.the-pamba.com/prize

PAMBA 2025 Santa Barbara CFP out now! www.the-pamba.com/events-1/pam... #philsky

PAMBA 2025 in Santa Barbara is inching closer! April 24-26 will be here before you know it, with keynote speakers Dorit Bar-On Laura Danón Simon Fitzpatrick Mark Rowlands Stay tuned for the CFP and exciting news!

I've written a short piece about 5 of my favourite books: shepherd.com/best-books/c...

Are bonobos really hippie apes? Are chimps war-mongers? I wrote a short piece for Learning & Behavior, spotlighting exciting new findings that start to build a clearer picture of the differences between the social lives of our two closest relatives! rdcu.be/dUS2H

This was a labour of love. Co-written with Giulia Palazzolo. Since the field consists of disconnected pockets of intense research, I think this is likely the most complete and systematic overview of the philosophy of animal communication literature to date. plato.stanford.edu/entries/anim...

I'm over the moon to finally be able to share my paper 'Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition' (co-written with @ldanon.bsky.social), out now in @thebjps.bsky.social. Perfect timing, too, as I can now write a thread on it! 🤩🧵👇

Only two weeks until my book is released! Tertulia is offering discount preorders: 25% off with code ZOOS entered at checkout tertulia.com/book/what-ar...

A note for my new followers that I own a mailing list (currently 280+ subscribers) where I share a selection of the latest papers in animal cognition and ethics, and where any member can share any relevant paper too. Nothing else, just papers. Join here: groups.google.com/g/animcogeth...

Rather than asking "Do animals have P?" philosophers have taken to analyzing P dimensionally, then comparing how different species exemplify P. The dimensional approach has been used to ask better questions about animal personhood, consciousness, social norms, inference, and concepts. 🔗👇

Save The Date-The second meeting of the Philosophy of Animal Minds and Behavior Association will be held at the University of Santa Barbara April 24-26 2025. Stay tuned for info about talks and events—including a tour of Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve to observe plovers!

I would have loved something like this when I was a jr scholar. Bravo to Jonathan Birch and trainees for organizing this opportunity to workshop your paper draft in the philosophy of animal minds!

The first conference on the ethics of animals and AI was held at Princeton University in October, and the talks are now available. I spoke on the ethics of AI projects aimed at “translating” animal communication systems, such as the Earth Species Project. #philsky #animalsky #AIsky

Big things happening over at @manydogsproject.bsky.social! Join us for a virtual Town Hall introducing ManyDogs2: Overimitation in Dogs on Wed, Nov 29 - 7a PT / 10a ET / 3p CET Everybody is invited to ask questions and learn how to get involved! Register to attend: bit.ly/3G1tzeY

Animal groups usually don’t get along, but human groups can. Now it turns out bonobo groups can be friendly too. Does that mean human group cooperation reaches back millions of years? Here’s my story 🧪 Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/s...

My latest for Aeon. 30 years ago we gave up the assumption that language is needed for consciousness, with great results. But consciousness remains puzzling. I suggest we can make real progress into the nature of consciousness by giving up the assumption that it requires a complex brain.

PAMBA is happy to support the Animal Minds Workshop at the LSE, geared toward mentoring early career scholars in the philosophy of animal minds. What a great initiative!

Very excited to announce that thanks to @pamba.bsky.social and York University (Toronto), we will be able to offer funding to support at least some of the attendees with the costs of attendance!

JOB: Philosophy post doc with Will Kymlicka and the Animals in Politics, Philosophy, Law and Ethics Group at Queens University (Kingston Ontario) philjobs.org/job/show/25114