« Dr. Kymlicka is amongst the top three influential political philosophers in the English-speaking world and has helped pioneer two major fields of research: the normative foundations of minority group rights within liberal democracies and the place of animals within political theory. Like other Western democracies, Canada is a ‘liberal democracy,’ which means we put a strong focus on the rights of individual citizens,” says Dr. Kymlicka. “The Canadian constitution also recognizes some group rights, but these have often been seen as anomalous, and perhaps even dangerous to liberal values. My work has tried to understand how we can make room in liberal philosophy for the rights of groups, and in particular the rights of minorities.” Dr. Kymlicka is currently researching we govern the lives of animals in our society.

“This is not only an urgent moral question on its own terms, but also central to the climate crisis, biodiversity and public health. We’ve established an animal politics research group here at Queen’s, focusing on how to ensure animals are represented in democratic politics,” he says. “I think this will be a central issue for the future of political philosophy, and for the fate of the world as a whole.”