Animal Ethics

Course Overview

Animal Ethics is a semester-long investigation of our moral duties to non-human animals. Among the questions we will consider are: What is the moral status of animals? What is the nature of animal cognition, and how does that bear on our responsibilities to them? What is animal welfare? How, if at all, may animals be used for the purposes of agriculture, consumption, and medical research? May we keep them as pets? Through consideration of our obligations to non-human animals, this course serves as an introduction to moral reflection more generally and to the mode of inquiry distinctive of philosophy.