Mara-Daria Cojocaru

Cojocaru studied political science, theatre studies and law as well as philosophy at LMU Munich. Mara-Dariya Cojocaru's first book was the poetry collection Näherungsweise (By approximation), published in 2008. In 2012, she graduated with a doctor's degree. Her thesis dealt with political philosophy. In July 2022, Cojocaru was habilitated at the Munich School of Philosophy. During her habilitation, she worked as a scholar at the University of Sheffield, the University of Brighton and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna as well as a lecturer at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. During her academic years, she worked also as a translator of reference books. In 2008, Cojocaru published her first poetry collection, Näherungsweise (By approximation). Her second poetry collection, Anstelle einer Unterwerfung (Instead of a Submission), was published in 2016 and has gained her much attention. Her poems have been translated into English, Estonian and Italian. In her philosophical work as well as in her literary work, Cojocaru focuses on animal ethics and animals as our counterparts with whom we share an animalistic nature. From a Christian standpoint, Cojocaru criticises any belittlement or instrumentalisation of animals. For Cojocaru, conflicts between animals and humans occur predominantly when we neglect the aspect of our animalistic nature. Thus, in a world of over-civilisation and environmental degradation, we turn out to be increasingly estranged from our fellow creatures. Against this background, Cojocaru is "convinced that both intellectual and moral progress can be achieved by cultivating our sensibilities towards the suffering and the needs of non-human animals as realistically as required (überzeugt davon, dass sich sowohl intellektueller als auch moralischer Fortschritt daran festmachen lassen, dass wir unsere Sensibilitäten gegenüber dem Leiden und den Bedürfnissen von nicht-menschlichen Tieren so realistisch wie nötig ausbilden)." For her artistic work on this subject matter in her poetry collection Anstelle einer Unterwerfung (Instead of a Submission), Cojocaru was granted the Bavarian arts and literary prize in 2017. Cojocaru is a member of the international, transdisciplinary network Minding Animals and of the German Pragmatism Network GERPRAG.

• Buch der Bestimmungen. Gedichte, Schöffling & Co., Frankfurt/Main 2021, • In collaboration with Ron Winkler: Du weißt nicht, wie schwer es geworden ist, einen Brief zu verschicken. Poetische Korrespondenzen, Schöffling & Co., Frankfurt/Main 2021, • Anstelle einer Unterwerfung. Gedichte, Schöffling & Co., Frankfurt/Main 2016, • Näherungsweise. Lyrik Edition 2000, München 2008,

• Donald R. Moor: Auf einen Kaffee mit Platon. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München 2009, • Jonathan Barnes: Auf einen Kaffee mit Aristoteles. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München 2010,