Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Course Description

This course introduces competing philosophical accounts of the moral status of nonhuman animals, as well as scholarly arguments concerning the ethics of eating animals, using them in research, keeping them in zoos and aquariums, living with them as companions, controlling their breeding for all these purposes, and so on. You will gain a deeper understanding of both the philosophical ideas and the empirical details underlying these debates and find yourself better prepared to form your own views and make your own ethical choices. Having examined many of your existing beliefs about these kinds of issues, you’ll likely know yourself better. In addition to surveying the field of animal ethics, we’ll focus this semester on developing your skills in moral reasoning and argumentative writing. Reasoning well about ethics in general (and animal ethics in particular) can be much more difficult than it might sound. Many common practices involving other animals are profoundly unsettling to most people when examined impartially in the clear light of day. Most of our basic moral attitudes regarding animals are absorbed from our cultures and families before we are able to think critically. They are woven organically into our everyday practices and fundamental worldviews and are often tied to our most basic religious convictions. Jobs, livelihoods, and traditions are built around them. As a result, moral challenges to these practices or ways of thinking about animals can seem like threats to our own identity or attacks on someone else’s culture. And because controversies about animal ethics intersect with our diverse and unequal social, economic, and cultural relations in a context of political tribalism and information bubbles, conversing about animal ethics can seem as ethically fraught as the things we are conversing about. For all these reasons, it’s essential that we agree together to approach these issues as unresolved quandaries and that we treat the class, like any other, as an opportunity to hone intellectual skills and habits of mind – e.g., close reading of challenging texts, critical thinking, civil discourse, responsible research, and cogent written argumentation. That said, it isn’t possible to approach animal ethics authentically by pretending to be neutral on or emotionally unaffected by the subject. You don’t have to be neutral or detached in order to reason in an unbiased way. You do have to practice fair mindedness and humility, reflect charitably on arguments made in good faith for positions that might strike you as wrong, and be open to seeing matters differently or even changing your beliefs or behaviors. Careful listening, methodical reasoning, clear communication, respect for others, and honest introspection are vital aspects of this course. Please be respectful of the diversity of views that you will encounter this semester, and also be prepared to have your views challenged by others. Successful completion of this course with a grade of C+ and without academic integrity violations fulfills the Writing Competency requirement of DePauw’s General Education program. Be advised that text generated by AI tools such as ChatGPT may not be submitted as your own writing. We will discuss the use of AI in the writing process, but in general you should expect to treat generative AI tools as you would any other author - marking the distinction between your voice and theirs, and citing the source appropriately.

Student Outcomes

Students will be able to: 1. Describe the central philosophical questions in the field of animal ethics generally and explain the main bodies of theory that answer those questions in competing ways. 2. Distinguish between empirical and normative questions embedded in questions of animal ethics. 3. Analyze ethical arguments regarding particular practices involving animals, identifying important strengths and weaknesses in those arguments. 4. Develop their own views on matters of animal ethics and defend those views both in speech and in writing. 5. Find, interpret, and evaluate information and argumentation from a variety of perspectives and genres to inform their views on a question of animal ethics. 6. Summarize, respond to, and appropriately acknowledge ideas from external sources in their writing. 7. Recognize and employ different conventions of style and voice appropriate to different audiences, genres, disciplines, formats, and contexts of writing. 8. Seek and incorporate feedback on their writing, and strengthen their written work through stages of rewriting, revising, editing, and proof-reading.

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