HRS 318: Sources and Methods: Animals, Persons, and Ethics

 

Prof. Stephens           201?        Tues. Thurs. 3:30 – 4:45 pm           D. H. Humanities Center ???

 

office hours: , and by appointment

 

office: DHHC 116           phone (with voicemail): 280-2632       email: stphns AT creighton DOT edu

 

Description

 

This Honors Program (and CCAS Certified Writing) course will use philosophical methods to study the nature of nonhuman animals (Nanimals), the nature of persons, and the ethical dynamics between persons and Nanimals.  What makes a being a person?  Are all human beings persons or only some?  Are androids, Blade Runner Replicants, computers, or divine beings persons?  Are some Nanimals, for instance, dolphins, whales, or great apes, persons?  Are some beings rudimentary persons?  If so, then is meat murder?  Is factory farming objectionable for ethical, ecological, or health safety reasons?  Are there good arguments for vegetarianism?  What philosophical methods can be used to construct cogent answers to these questions?  What obligations do morally responsible agents have to persons, to rudimentary persons, and to living non-persons?  How do myths, folklore, biology, the theory of evolution, and the science of ethology inform our thinking about such questions?  We will draw from various philosophical texts in order to examine the fascinating and complex ethical, social, and metaphysical relationships between persons and Nanimals.

 

 

Course Objectives

Students will learn how...

• To compare and contrast several competing philosophical conceptions of what a person is.
• To construct a coherent, philosophically defensible position on which beings are persons and why, which beings are not persons and why, and which beings are neither paradigmatic persons nor paradigmatic non-persons.
• To explain how danimals are genetically fabricated, produced, raised, and slaughtered in factory farming.
• To discuss ethical objections to the factory farming of danimals.
• To explain several arguments for adopting philosophical vegetarianism and discuss objections to those arguments.
• To explain in some detail Paul Shepard’s account of how nanimals made us human.

 

Required Books

 

• Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals. New York, NY: Little, Brown & Co., 2009.  ISBN 978-0-316-06990-8.
• Paul Shepard, The Others: How Animals Made Us Human. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997.  ISBN 1-55963-434-0.
• W. O. Stephens, The Person: Readings in Human Nature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006.  ISBN 0-13-184811-9.
  
   

Required Essays

	Tara the elephant & Bella the dog

Supplemental Sources

• Paola Cavalieri, “Whales as Persons” in A&B: 204–210
• Katherine Ellison, “Dolphin Therapy is Booming Despite Concerns about Efficacy and Animal Cruelty,” The Washington Post, Feb. 23, 2010
• Helen Fields, “An Appetite for Whaling,” National Geographic, July 2008: 33
• Erica Goode, “Sit. Stay. Love.” The New York Times, July 6, 2008
• Peter Gwin, “A View to a Kill: Hunting Bears in Katmai National Preserve, Alaska,” National Geographic, July 2008: 28
• Rosalind Hursthouse, “Applying Virtue Ethics to Our Treatment of the Other Animals” in The Practice of Virtue, J. Welchman ed. Hackett, 2006
• Mark Jenkins, “Virunga Gorillas,” National Geographic, July 2008: 34–65
• K. E. Lange, “Nasty Bites,” National Geographic, July 2008: 26
• Jonathan Leake, “Scientists say dolphins should be treated as non-human persons,” The Sunday Times, 3 Jan. 2010
• Virginia Morell, “Animal Minds,” National Geographic, March 2008: 36–61
• Stephen Mulhall, “Picturing the Human (Body and Soul): A Reading of Blade Runner,” Film and Philosophy, vol. 1, 1994: 87–104
• Tom O’Neill, “Spot Check: Giraffes,” National Geographic, July 2008: 24
• Tom Regan, “The Case for Animal Rights” [excerpts] in A&B: 19–25
• S. F. Sapontzis, “Saving the Rabbit from the Fox,” Ch. 13 of Morals, Reason, and Animals. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1987
• K. J. Shapiro, “Human-Animal Studies: Growing the Field, Applying the Field,” Ann Arbor, MI: Animals and Society Institute, 2008
• M. P. Simmonds, “Into the Brains of Whales” in A&B: 193–203
• Peter Singer, “Practical Ethics” [excerpts] in A&B: 36–46
• James Vlahos, “Pill-popping Pets,” The New York Times Magazine, July 13, 2008: 38–45, 54, 62–63
• Nicholas Wade, “Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior,” The New York Times, March 20, 2007
• Whitehead et al., “Culture and Conservation of Non-humans with Reference to Whales and Dolphins” in A&B: 181–192
   

Required Films

• Food, Inc. (2009) directed by Robert Kenner (91 mins.)
• Blade Runner, Director’s Cut (1982) directed by Ridley Scott (116 mins.); on four-hour and overnight reserve at Reinert Library.
   

 

Recommended Texts

• Lewis Vaughn, Writing Philosophy: A Student’s Guide to Writing Philosophy Essays. Oxford University Press, 2006.  ISBN 0-19-517956-0.

• William O. Stephens, How to Write Philosophy Papers: A Manual for Beginning Philosophy Students ($4 at the Philosophy Dept.)

 

Other Texts

• The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp & R. G. Frey. Oxford Univ. Press, Sept. 2011. ISBN 978-0-19-537196-3. http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Philosophy/EthicsMoralPhilosophy/AppliedEthics/?view=usa&view=usa&ci=9780195371963

• S. J. Armstrong & R. G. Botzler, The Animal Ethics Reader, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2008

• Frans de Waal, Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. Princeton University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-691-12447-7.

• Tim Dirks, review of Blade Runner, 1982 film and P. K. Dick novel

• Hampton Fancher & David Peoples, Blade Runner Screenplay (Feb. 23, 1981)

• Internet Movie Database entry on Blade Runner (1982)

• James Rachels, Created from Animals: The Moral Implications of Darwinism. Oxford University Press, 1999 (paperback) ISBN 0-19-2861298.

• Rosemary Rodd, Biology, Ethics and Animals. Oxford University Press, 1992 (paperback) ISBN 0-19-824052-X.

 

Web sites and Videos

• Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s Vegetarian Food for Thought with PODCASTS

• Animal Freedom website

• Tom Regan’s Animal Rights website

• “Meet Your Meat” YouTube.com video (12 mins. 28 secs.)

• The Meatrix I, The Meatrix II, The Meatrix II½

• msnbc video on the sad end to Travis the chimp

• msnbc video on whether chimps should be kept as pets

• npr story on Santino the chimp who stockpiled projectiles to throw at zoo visitors in Sweden

• CBSnews.com Jan. 6, 2009 story "The Animal Odd Couple" (Tara the elephant & Bella the dog)

• CBSnews.com June 5, 2009 story on "The Animal Odd Couple Part II" (Tara the elephant & Bella the dog)

• Elephant paints an elephant holding a flower (8 mins. 29 secs.)

• 5th World video on Surya the orangutan & Roscoe the hound dog (3 mins. 58 secs.)

• Species Diversity and Biodiversity (How many species are there?)

• “Mekong a ‘treasure trove’ of 1,000 newly discovered species”

   

Course Requirements (and percentage of course grade)

 

Two Papers (1700 words minimum; suggested maximum of 2000 words)	20% + 20%
Quiz on Shepard	10%
Exam on Shepard	14%
Final Exam	16%
Class Participation (includes pop reading quizlets)	20%

     

Academic Honesty and Penalties for Violations

Students who plagiarize any part of a paper or written assignment will receive an F (zero) for that assignment. Students who cheat on an assignment will receive an F (zero) on that assignment.  Students are required to produce their own original work in their papers and assignments, including all ideas, arguments, and sentences.  Students may not take ideas or sentences from another unless that source is properly cited.  Students may NOT work with others when writing the sentences of their assignments.  However, students are encouraged to discuss ideas pertaining to their papers with other students in the course and with other people not taking the course.  Citations on the paper should follow the guidelines in How to Write Philosophy Papers.  In a case of plagiarism or cheating judged by the instructor to be flagrant, the student will receive an F for the course.  See the Creighton College of Arts & Sciences Academic Honesty Procedures.

Requirements for Papers

Each of your papers will be a THESIS DEFENSE paper, also known as an argumentative essay.  See chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Vaughn, Writing Philosophy or (perhaps and) Stephens, How to Write Philosophy Papers.  The topic for each paper can be any philosophically substantive concept, idea, theory, argument, or practice (to be ethically evaluated) directly related to those studied in this course.  Discuss your idea for a paper topic with Prof. Stephens so that he can officially approve your topic before you begin serious writing.   A hard copy of the paper must be delivered under Prof. Stephens’ office door (HC 116) or put into his hand in order to count as being received.  Emailed papers are not acceptable without the prior permission of Prof. Stephens.  Late papers will be penalized ten (10) points per weekday late.  A request for an extension must be made at least three weekdays prior to the due date.  Print your NAME, the COURSE number and name, the name of your PROFESSOR, the TITLE of your paper, and the WORD COUNT on the cover page.

Pop Quizlets

To encourage you to do the assigned reading faithfully before each and every class (and to encourage punctual attendance), Prof. Stephens will sometimes, without prior announcement, at the beginning of class, give a small “pop” quiz on the reading assignment called a quizlet.  Quizlets usually contain approximately ten true/false questions.  Sometimes quizlets have an extra credit question.  If you are late to class or absent, then you miss the quizlet, get a zero for it, and cannot retake it.  Boosting your participation (either orally in class or posting to the Discussion Forum) is the best way to compensate for missing a quizlet.  Occasionally Prof. Stephens rewards students for bringing their books to class by giving an open-book quizlet.  Your scores on quizlets figure into your class participation grade.  Prof. Stephens will drop your lowest quizlet score when calculating your final Class Participation grade.

Class Cancellation Procedures

 

Ordinarily, the instructor will notify students of a cancelled class via email, BlueLine, or the web-syllabus.  Students are expected to check their email inboxes frequently, but at least both the night before, and the morning of the same day as, a class meeting.

 

• Extreme lack of clarity or lack of coherence of argument or expression of thought.
• Disregard for the requirements of the assignment.
• Irrelevant use or failure to use relevant course readings.
• Submission of another's words or thoughts as if they were your own, whether in the form of plagiarism or failure to acknowledge the source of an idea.
• Very poor class attendance with no participation in discussions.

D    “Work of inferior quality, but passing” (60 to <70% average)

• Unclarity or incoherence of argument or expression of thought.
• Failure to satisfy the requirements of the assignment.
• Poor or inadequate understanding or use of relevant course readings.
• Improper acknowledgment or citation of the sources of your ideas.
• Poor class attendance with little or no participation in discussions.

C    “Satisfactory work”

• Basic clarity and coherence of argument and expression of thought.
• Satisfaction of the assignment’s basic requirements.
• Fair or adequate understanding of the major views and theories in the relevant course readings and the arguments presented in support of those views and theories.
• Minimally clear and coherent evaluation of the views and arguments in the relevant course readings.
• Minimally proper acknowledgment and citation of the sources of your ideas.
• Generally consistent class attendance with occasional participation in discussions.
• 77 to <80% average for a C+; 70 to <77% average for a C.

B    “Noteworthy level of performance”    Demonstrates all of the qualities of satisfactory work plus:

• Good, above average clarity and coherence of argument and expression of thought.
• Clear, logical organization of the essay’s introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Clear, detailed, and accurate understanding of the major views and theories in the relevant course readings and of the arguments presented in support of those views
  and theories.
• Good attempt to provide argumentative support for your evaluation of the views, theories, and arguments presented in the relevant course readings.
• Regular, consistent class attendance with regular, good participation in discussions.
• 87 to <90% average for a B+; 80 to <87% average for a B.

A    “Outstanding achievement and an unusual degree of intellectual initiative”  Demonstrates all of the qualities of noteworthy performance plus:

• Excellent, superior clarity and coherence of argument and expression of thought.
• Clear, rigorous, and cogent argumentative support for your evaluation of the views, theories, and arguments presented in the relevant course readings.
• Originality and creativity of interpretation, explanation, argumentation, or criticism. 
• Superior class attendance with consistent, excellent, and thoughtful participation in discussions.  
• 90% average or above.
   

Class Participation and Attendance Policies

Punctuality is a virtue.  Prof. Stephens strives to attend every class on time.  He expects all of his students to attend every class, on time, every week, all semester long.  Regular and punctual class attendance is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a good class participation grade.  Five (5) or more absences (the equivalent of two and a half weeks) will result in an AF (failure due to excessive absence) for this course.  Each absence fewer than six will incrementally lower your class participation grade.  You are responsible for all material discussed and all announcements made in every class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed.  Being tardy twice counts as one absence.  There are two kinds of activities that count as “participation”: inside of class and outside of class.  Inside of class participation is raising your hand to be called on and making comments about the reading or the discussion, or asking questions about the reading or my lecture, or responding to questions I raise or comments made by other students.  Outside of class participation includes (a) face-to-face (or telephonic) philosophical conversations with Prof. Stephens outside the classroom and (b) philosophically substantive electronic messages, including emails to Prof. Stephens or posts (or replies) in the BlueLine Discussion Forum for the course.  If you miss a class, it is good to make a post to the BlueLine Discussion Forum.  Over the weekend, it is good to make a post to the BlueLine Discussion Forum.  You cannot really learn how to do philosophy by merely listening. You also need to actively think out loud orally inside of class and outside of class by posting to the BlueLine Discussion Forum.  Both quality and quantity of oral and electronic remarks count; I record both.  Since we will be closely attending to the readings in our class discussions, it is important that everyday you bring to class your book (or a hard copy of the pdf article) containing that day’s reading assignment.

In the event of disruption of normal classroom activities due to an H1N1 flu outbreak, the format for this course may be modified to enable completion of the course.  In that event, you will be provided an addendum to this syllabus that will supersede this version.  Moreover, in the event of an H1N1 flu outbreak, you will be granted up to two (2) days of missed class attendance without a doctor’s note so long as you inform Prof. Stephens immediately when you become ill.  If you miss more than two (2) class days, you must provide a doctor’s excuse.  A necessary condition for a class absence being counted as excused due to illness (or emergency) is email (or telephone) notification to Prof. Stephens BEFORE class begins (at 3:30 pm) the day of the absence.  Ordinarily, email (or telephone) notification of illness (or emergency) preventing class attendance being given prior to class is also sufficient for that absence to count as excused, but this is ultimately up to the discretion of Prof. Stephens.

Electronic Devices

Our class is a community of philosophical thinkers cooperating in both face to face inquiry inside the classroom and electronic inquiry outside the classroom on BlueLine and via email.  Consequently, the two-fold purpose of being in class is (1) to listen to and think about what Prof. Stephens and your classmates say and (2) to orally participate in the discussion.  Taking notes on paper during class is so strongly recommended that it is virtually obligatory.  Use of electronic devices in class is PROHIBITED.  These devices include laptop computers, handheld computers, iPods, Blackberries, cameras, audio recorders, cell phones, and similar devices.  If you choose to bring such devices to the classroom, they must be stored away and kept off during class.  If you believe that your learning will be compromised by this prohibition, you may make your case to Prof. Stephens for a limited exception to this policy.  Using any electronic device in class for an illicit purpose (e.g. emailing, browsing the Internet, playing games) will result in a punitive reduction in the Class Participation grade.

Schedule*

 

Jan. 14	Video welcome: http://winstream.creighton.edu/wos87278/efellow2009-10/hrs318welcome.wmv (3 mins. 7 secs.); read web-syllabus
Jan. 19	Foer, Chapter 1:  Storytelling and Chapter 2: All or Nothing or Something Else (1–42)
Jan. 21	Jeff Jordan, “Friends Shouldn’t Let Friends Be Eaten: A New Argument for Vegetarianism” in BlueLine “Lessons”
	Desmond Stewart, “The Limits of Trooghaft” in BlueLine “Lessons”
Jan. 26	Foer, Ch. 3:  Words/Meaning (43–77)
	D. F. Wallace, “Consider the Lobster” Gourmet, August 2004: 50–64 in BlueLine “Lessons”
Jan. 28	Foer, Ch. 4:  Hiding/Seeking (78–116)
Feb. 2	Foer, Ch. 5:  Influence/Speechlessness (117–148)
	W. O. Stephens, “Five Arguments for Vegetarianism” (.pdf) in BlueLine “Lessons”
Feb. 4	Foer, Ch. 6:  Slices of Paradise/Pieces of Shit (149–200)
Feb. 9	4:00 pm  Founders Day Convocation – no class meeting until  5:45 pm Screening of Food, Inc. (2009) in Hixson-Lied G04
Feb. 11	Foer, Ch. 7:  I Do (201–244); Meet Your Meat video (12 mins. 28 secs.)
Feb. 16	Foer, Ch. 8:  Storytelling (245–268); PAPER #1 DUE
Feb. 18	Shepard, Introduction and Part I: The Animal Fare, Chapters 1 and 2 (3–40)  VOCABULARY in Shepard, The Others
Feb. 23	Shepard, Part II: Cognition, Chapters 3 and 4 (43–68) and Part III: Identity, Chapter 5 (69–80)
Feb. 25	Shepard, Chapters 6 through 8 (81–114)
March 2	Shepard, Part IV: Change, Chapters 9 and 10 (117–139)
	Review Guide for Quiz on Shepard, Intro. through Ch. 10
March 4	Quiz on Shepard Intro. through Ch. 10
	Spring Recess
March 16	Shepard, Chapters 11, 12, and 13 (140–172)
March 18	Shepard, Part V: The Cosmos, Chapters 14, 15, and 16 (175–221); Mark Bittman, “Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler,” The New York Times, January 27, 2008
March 23	Shepard, Chapters 17 and 18 (222–267)
March 25	Shepard, Part VI: Counterplayers, Chapters 19, 20, and 21 (271–290)
March 30	Shepard, Chapters 22, 23, and 24 (291–333)                       Review for Exam on Shepard Chapters 11 through 24
April 1	Exam on Shepard
April 6	Stephens, Ch. 3: Cicero, Ch. 6: Boethius (17–21, 32–37)
April 8	Stephens, Ch. 39: Oswald Hanfling, “Machines as Persons?” (379–386); video lecture on Hanfling (32 mins. 8 secs.)
	Before 3:30 pm view Dr Bucher’s Powerpoint lecture (in three parts) “Style and Meaning in Blade Runner” on BlueLine for this course (under “Lessons”)
April 13	screening of Blade Runner (1982) in Criss Health Science 452                The film is on reserve in Reinert Library for you to watch on your own in case you cannot watch the in-class screening after 4:45 pm.
April 15	Stephen Mulhall, “Picturing the Human (Body and Soul): A Reading of Blade Runner”
April 20	PAPER #2 DUE at 3:30 pm; Stephens, Ch. 42: The Boyd Group, “The Moral Status of Non-human Primates: Are Apes Persons?” (409–415),
	Nicholas Wade, “Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior,” and Mark Jenkins, “Virunga Gorillas”
April 22	Stephens, Ch. 36: A. O. Rorty, “Persons and Personae” (336–350)
April 27	post a substantive comment on BlueLine on these three readings: M. P. Simmonds, “Into the Brains of Whales,”
	Whitehead et al., “Culture and Conservation of Non-humans with Reference to Whales and Dolphins,” and
	Helen Fields, “An Appetite for Whaling”
April 29	Stephens, Ch. 34: Mary Midgley, “Persons and Non-Persons” (313–320), Paola Cavalieri, “Whales as Persons,”
	Jonathan Leake, “Scientists say dolphins should be treated as non-human persons,” The Sunday Times, 3 Jan. 2010
	Katherine Ellison, “Dolphin Therapy is Booming Despite Concerns about Efficacy and Animal Cruelty,” The Washington Post, Feb. 23, 2010
	Review for Final Exam
May 6	1:00–2:40 pm    Final Exam

           

* The instructor reserves the right, at his discretion and as needed, to make minor changes to this syllabus during the course of the semester (and the semester of the course), including due dates and assignments.  For this reason, DO NOT PRINT OR RELY ON ANY PAPER COPY OF THIS WEB-SYLLABUS.  Rely on the current Internet version of this web-syllabus.

 

last modified 20 April 2012
Copyright © 2012 William O. Stephens