Man has lived with animals since the beginning of time, but how well do we really know our furry, four-legged friends? “Minding the Borders: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Animal Consciousness and the Human-Animal Distinction,” to be held at DePaul University April 27 and 28, will explore the presumed boundary or distinction between humans beings and nonhuman animals.

The interdisciplinary conference will take place in the Schmitt Academic Center (SAC), 2320 N. Kenmore Ave., and is free and open to the public.

The discussions during the two-day conference will aim to challenge the sharp line that separates humanity from the rest of the animal world, especially as that line is thought to be constituted by our differing mental abilities, explained H. Peter Steeves, assistant professor of philosophy at DePaul and conference organizer.

Some of the issues to be addressed during the conference include: the history of the idea of humans being separate from animals; the cultural mechanisms employed to set the borders (including the depiction of animals in film, literature, art and popular culture); aspects of animal behavior that give insights into animal cognition (such as language skills of apes); and the possibility of animal emotions and the affective life of the mind.

The Friday sessions will take place in SAC, Room 154. Topics and speakers are as follows:

6 p.m., Inaugural poem, “Trained Man and Dog,” Vicki Hearne, animal trainer and best-selling author of “Bandit,” “Adam’s Task” and “Animal Happiness;”

7 p.m., “Zato,” video of performance artist and animal rights activist Rachel Rosenthal and a lecture by her entitled “Who? Animal?”

8 p.m., “The Rich Cognitive and Deep Emotional Lives of Nonhuman Animal Beings: Blurring the Borders and Strolling with Our Kin,” Marc Bekoff, professor of biology at the University of Colorado and fellow of the Animal Behavior Society.

The Saturday session will be held in SAC, Room 161. Topics and speakers for the morning session, from 9 a.m.- 1 p.m., are as follows:

“The Death of the Animal: At 24/25 Frames Per Second,” Akira Mizuta Lippit, associate professor of film and visual studies at the University of California, Irvine;

“Kafka’s Hybrids: Thinking Animals and Mirrored Humans,” Margot Norris, professor of English and comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine;

“Gorilla Girl,” Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of “Women & Other Animals” and co-editor of “Working Lives: Short Stories of People and Work;”

“Illicit Crossings: The Other at the Human/Animal Boundary,” Peter Steeves.

The Saturday afternoon session will be held from 3 p.m.- 7 p.m. Topics and speakers are as follows:

“The Animal as Ethologist: Nonhuman Access to Human Minds,” Alphonso Lingis, professor of philosophy at Pennsylvania State University;

“What is an Animal?”, Dorion Sagan, a general partner at Sciencewriters and head chef at cookingwithjesus.com; “Dialogues with Apes,” Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, professor of biology, psychology and comparative primate cognition at Georgia State University;

“Farm Animal Feelings and the Science of Animal Behavior,” Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, a psychoanalyst and best-selling author of “When Elephants Weep.” He is now working on a book about the emotional lives of farm animals, and has signed a contract to write about the feelings of cats.

The conference is co-sponsored by several DePaul entities, including the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the University Research Council and the Department of Philosophy.

For more information about “Minding the Borders: A Conference on Animal Consciousness and the Human-Animal Distinction,” contact Steeves, Department of Philosophy, DePaul University, 773/325-1153 or by e-mail at psteeves@wppost.depaul.edu.