Concordia University
Winter, 2012
TR 10:15-11:30
Professor Justin Smith
Office: PR-402
Office Hours: R 12-2
Course Description:
What is going on in the minds of animals? How do we know what is going on in there? Do our ethical responsibilities towards animals, if we have any, flow from what is going on in there? That is, is there something about the inner lives of animals that compels us to take them seriously as beings with some moral status? If our knowledge of the cognitive capacities of the various species of animals is in fact the basis of our moral commitments to them, then why do we treat some animals (e.g., dogs) so much more gently than others (e.g., pigs), even though the scientific evidence tells us that the latter are no less intelligent than the former? Might our sense of what our varying moral commitments to various animals be based on something other than our knowledge (if in fact we have any) of the richness of their inner lives? On the basis of what, if anything, should we be seeking to ground our moral commitments to animals? In this class, we will try to answer all of these very difficult questions, with the help of a number of readings from some of the most influential recent philosophers to engage with the problem of animal minds and human morals.
Means of evaluation:
- One midterm exam consisting in short answer and essay questions (25%).
- One final exam consisting in short answer and essay questions (30%).
- 10 one-page précis of the week’s assigned texts, due in class each Wednesday (30%).
- Class attendance and participation (15%).
Required Texts:
- Cass R. Sunstein and Martha C. Nussbaum, Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions (Oxford University Press, 2005).
- J. M. Coetzee, The Lives of Animals (Princeton University Press, 1999).
- A packet of readings will be available at Copies Concordia (on de Maisonneuve between Guy and Mackay).
Grading Policy
A A grade in the ‘A’ range indicates that the student has done truly superior work, that he or she has not only thoroughly mastered all of the material, but also shows a true and rare talent in her or his engagement with it. Typically, only one or two A+ grades will be given in a semester.
B A grade in the ‘B’ range indicates that the student shows an above-average, but not rare and exceptional, grasp of the course material. A grade in the ‘B’ range is a grade that indicates solid work by a dedicated student, even if in certain respects it shows room for improvement.
C A grade in the ‘C’ range indicates satisfactory work, while at the same time showing room for considerable improvement.
D A grade in the ‘D’ range is assigned to students who have completed a bare minimum of the course requirements, but who show no great talent for, and typically no interest in, thinking, writing, and talking about the subject at hand.
F An ‘F’ indicates that the student has not done the required course work, or has done it with such a degree of indifference that he or she may as well have not done it.
Schedule of Classes:
Part I: Current Debates in Philosophy
Tuesday, 4 January: Introduction
Thursday, 5 January: Cora Diamond, “Eating Meat and Eating People” (SN).
Tuesday, 10 January: Diamond, “Eating Meat and Eating People” (cont.).
Thursday, 12 January: Richard Posner, “Animal Rights: Legal, Philosophical, and Pragmatic Perspectives” (SN).
Tuesday, 17 January: Posner, “Animal Rights” (cont.).
Thursday, 19 January: Peter Singer, “A Response to Richard Posner” (SN).
Tuesday, 24 January: Martha Nussbaum, “Beyond Compassion and Humanity” (SN)
Thursday, 26 January: Nussbaum, “Beyond Compassion and Humanity” (cont.).
Tuesday, 31 January: Leslie J. Rogers and Gisela Kaplan, “All Animals Are Not Equal” (SN).
Thursday, 2 February: Rogers and Kaplan, “All Animals Are Not Equal” (cont.).
Tuesday, 7 February: Elizabeth Anderson, “Animal Rights and the Values of Nonhuman Life” (SN).
Thursday, 9 February: Elizabeth Anderson, "Animal Rights and the Values of Nonhuman Life" (cont). MIDTERM EXAM!
PART II: Engaging the Problem in Literature
Tuesday, 14 February (DM): J. M. Coetzee, The Lives of Animals
Thursday, 16 February: Coetzee, The Lives of Animals (cont.).
Tuesday, 21 February, Coetzee, The Lives of Animals (cont.).
Thursday, 23 February Coetzee, The Lives of Animals (cont.).
PART III: The History of the Problem
Tuesday, 28 February: Empedocles (fragments, in packet); Ovid, Metamorphoses (excerpt, in packet).
Thursday, 1 March: Porphyry, On Abstinence from Animal Flesh (excerpts, in packet).
Tuesday, 6 March: Laws of Manu (excerpts, in packet); Acaranga Sutra (excerpts, in packet); Mohandas Gandhi, “Letter to the Natal Mercury” (excerpt, in packet).
Thursday, 8 March: Lankavatara Sutra (excerpts, in packet); Lankavatara Sutra (excerpts, in packet).
Tuesday, 13 March: Pierre Gassendi, “Letter to J.-B. van Helmont” (1629) (in packet).
Thursday, 15 March: Correspondence between Edward Tyson and John Wallis, published in the Philosophical Transactions (1699) (excerpts, in packet).
Tuesday, 20 March: Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality (1840) (excerpts, in packet).
Thursday, 22 March: Lev Tolstoy, article in The Vegetarian (1889) (in packet).
PART IV: Conclusions
Tuesday, 27 March: Steven M. Wise, “Animal Rights: One Step at a Time” (SN).
Thursday, 29 March: Wise, “Animal Rights: One Step at a Time” (cont.).
Tuesday, 3 April: Review
Thursday, 5 April: FINAL EXAM!
