Animal Emotions and Animal Rights Law
De Waal's lecture theme will be emotions in animals, where increasing understanding provides further evidence for the concept that animals and humans are on a single continuum, and therefore supports the proposition that many of the fundamental legal distinctions between animals and humans need to be rethought.
Our speaker for 2023 is Professor Frans de Waal, a Dutch/American biologist and primatologist known for his work on the behaviour and social intelligence of primates. His first book, Chimpanzee Politics (1982), compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees involved in power struggles with that of human politicians. His scientific work has been published in hundreds of technical articles in journals such as Science, Nature, Scientific American, and outlets specialized in animal behaviour. His popular books - translated into 20+ languages - have made him one of the world's most visible primatologists. His latest books are Mama’s Last Hug (Norton, 2019) and Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist (Norton, 2022). De Waal is C. H. Candler Professor Emeritus at Emory University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Utrecht University. He has been elected to the (US) National Academy of Sciences as well as the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2007, Time declared him one of The World’s 100 Most Influential People Today.