Oscar Horta

Timeline

1. 1999–2007

   Philosophy degrees at Santiago

   He completes an undergraduate degree in philosophy at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in 1999. In 2007, he earns a doctorate there with a thesis on speciesism, Un desafío para la bioética: la cuestión del especismo, supervised by Luis García Soto.

2. 2007

   The Ferrater Mora Essay Prize

   He wins the Ferrater Mora Essay Prize in 2007 for his study of the moral philosophy of José Ferrater Mora. The Ferrater Mora Foundation and the Ferrater Mora Chair of Contemporary Thought at the University of Girona award the prize jointly.

3. 2009–2011

   Rutgers and a research fellowship

   He is a visiting researcher at Rutgers University from 2009 to 2010 and holds a research fellowship at the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology from 2009 to 2011. He returns to USC in 2011 as a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Anthropology.

4. 2012

   Co-founding Animal Ethics

   In 2012, he co-founds the animal advocacy organisation Animal Ethics. He has been involved in vegan and antispeciesist advocacy since the mid-1990s.

5. 2018

   Professor and EA Global talk

   In 2018, he becomes a professor at USC and speaks at EA Global in London, an effective altruism conference, about promoting welfare biology as a field of research.

6. 2022

   Making a Stand for Animals

   In 2022, he publishes Making a Stand for Animals, his first English-language book, which first appeared in Spanish in 2017 as Un paso adelante en defensa de los animales. It examines the moral consideration of non-human animals, criticism of speciesism, human uses of animals and suffering experienced by wild animals.

7. March 2026–July 2026

   A documentary on AI and animals

   In March 2026, the new documentary AI & Animals, made by Animal Ethics and directed by Horta with Alba García Bernal, examines how artificial intelligence could change conditions for factory-farmed animals. It also covers AI for reducing wild animal suffering and for animal advocacy, with contributors that include Jonathan Birch, Jeff Sebo and Peter Singer. In July 2026, he joins a screening and Q&A at Mox in San Francisco on moral philosophy, long-term AI safety and animal advocacy.

8. As of October 2026

   Professor at Santiago de Compostela

   In August 2025, he presents his argument against speciesism at the 38th Berggruen Seminar in Beijing. He is a professor of philosophy at the University of Santiago de Compostela and a co-founder of Animal Ethics.