Faculty Profile for Kristian Joel Cantens

Biography Section
Biography and Education
I am a Lecturer in Philosophy at Texas State University and a Junior Fellow at the Centre for Animal Ethics at Pompeu Fabra University. I received my PhD in the Spring of 2024 from Texas A&M University under the direction of Clare Palmer. I also have an MA in English, and a MA in Environmental Philosophy.Research Interests
My specializations are primarily in animal and environmental ethics. My dissertation, Imagining Animals Differently, concerns the importance of the imagination in moral disagreement about animals and its role in moral change.Building on the themes explored in my dissertation, I have published several articles within the last year in The Journal of Animal Ethics, The Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, and The Journal of Applied Ethics. This research is notable in that it has been informed by more than a decade of work as a grassroots animal activist.
Currently, I am at work on various projects: an article on the limitations of argument as a means of persuading others of the value of animal life, an article examining attitudes of fear and hostility towards wolf reintroduction campaigns in rural US, a monograph on the current controversy over the Spanish bullfight, and am editing a collection essays with my former advisor, Deborah Slicer, on animals’ senses of humor.
Selected Scholarly/Creative Work
- Cantens, K. J. (2024). Currents in Conservation: Navigating Tragic Conflict with Compassion and Justice. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics.
- Cantens, K. J. (2024). Overcoming the Fantasy of Human Supremacy: Toward a Murdochian Theory of Change in Nonideal Animal Ethics. The Journal of Animal Ethics.
- Cantens, K. J. (2024). Racism, Speciesism, and the Argument from Analogy: A Critique of the Discourse of Animal Ethics. Journal of Applied Philosophy.
- Cantens, K. J. (Trans.). (2023). Translation of “The Blue Mosque: An Experience of Otherness” by Luis Villoro. Inter-American Journal of Philosophy.