
© Isa Leshko, Allowed to Grow Old (2019)
ABOUT

I am a postdoctoral fellow in Philosophy at Queen’s University in Canada. I am working with Will Kymlicka on reciprocity in nonhuman animals and its implications for theories of justice. My research project is funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec Société et Culture (FRQSC). My research interests include animal ethics, practical ethics, political theory, philosophy of emotion, and moral theory.
I am also a postdoctoral associate in Philosophy at the University of Oxford. In 2025, I completed a DPhil in Philosophy at the University of Oxford with the support of a Rhodes Scholarship and a doctoral scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec Société et Culture (FRQSC). My thesis explored the possibility of recognizing some animals as moral agents. It was supervised by Jeff McMahan, Alison Hills, and Dominic Wilkinson. At Oxford, I had the chance of teaching the three main undergraduate courses in moral philosophy: Moral Philosophy: Mill (first year), Ethics (second year), and Practical Ethics (third year).
I am also the author or co-author of two books on the history and philosophy of animal advocacy: Que veulent les véganes? La cause animale, de Platon au mouvement antispéciste (Fides, 2021, co-written with Alexia Renard) and Au nom des animaux : l'histoire de la SPCA de Montréal (1869-2019) (Somme toute, 2019).
RESEARCH
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Articles
· (2026, forthcoming). John Stuart Mill on the Origins of Justice and the Role of Empathy: A Proposed Account. The Journal of Ethics.
· (2023). Les véganes au Québec : tensions à gauche et alliances en construction. Bulletin d’histoire politique, 30(3), 155-172.
Book Chapters
· (2024). Can Animals Be Moral Agents? Why the Debate Matters for Animal Ethics. In Y. Athanassakis, R. Larue & W. O’Donohue (Eds.). The Vegan and Plant-Based Handbook (pp. 51-67). Springer.
Book Symposium Articles
· (2026, forthcoming). Capacitisme, traitement inégal et discrimination positive : quelles implications pour le spécisme ? For the book symposium on Le pire des maux by François Jaquet (Elliot Éditions, 2024). Dialogue : Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie.
Research Notes
· (2024) Co-written with Michaël Lessard and Daphnée B. Ménard. Le droit animalier québécois : vers un agenda de recherche. Revue de droit de l'Université de Sherbrooke, 53(2), 337-374.
Book Reviews
· (2024). Baratay, Eric (ed.). L’animal désanthropisé : interroger et redéfinir les concepts, Paris, Éditions de la Sorbonne, 313 pages, Journal of Animal Ethics, 14(1), 110-111.
· (2021). Allais, Lucy et Callanan, John J. (ed.) (2020). Kant and Animals, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 272 pages, Philosophiques, 48(2), 413-418.
· (2019). Korsgaard, Christine (2018). Fellow Creatures : Our Obligations to the Other Animals, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 272 pages, Philosophiques, 46(1), 463-468.
· (2017). Adams, Carol J. (2016). La politique sexuelle de la viande : une théorie féministe critique végétarienne, traduit de l’anglais (États-Unis) par Danielle Petitclerc, Lausanne, Éditions L’Âge d’Homme, 357 pages, Ithaque, 21, 307-312.
IN PROGRESS
· A paper on animal cultures.
· A paper on the practical implications of recognizing some animals as moral agents or subjects capable of anger.
· A paper on emotional contagion in animals and its epistemic role.










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