Basics
- The midterm is on December 13, 11:30 (Hyer 106)
- There will be 5 questions. One is required (see below). You'll have your choice of another 3.
- Thd questions will be 3-part questions like the ones on the quiz and midterm.
- You'll have 2 hours.
Required question
1. (A) You are a wildlife photographer with a background in animal ethics. You are often a close-up witness to violence between animals—e.g. a fox killing a bird, a male leopard killing a female’s cubs, two wolves fighting. What are some ethical and philosophical questions that come to mind at these moments? Answer as thoroughly as possible. (B) When it comes to assisting wild animals, some philosophers are interventionists and others think “let them be” (laissez faire). How does Clare Palmer argue for the laissez faire position? How might another author object to her view? (C) Though she calls her position "laissez faire," Palmer doesn’t say we should never help animals in the wild. Describe a situation in which you should assist wild animals, on her view. Why is assistance right in that case? What might she say about assisting in the cases listed in (A)?
Study materials:
- Use the study guide below. Follow the links to blog posts.
- Use your own notes.
- Reread articles selectively.
- Pay attention to comments on your RRs.
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MODULE 4: USING ANIMALS
10.21 Animals as Food (factory farming) & Animals as food (reforms & humane farming) - lots of info
Study suggestion: We started this module with a lot of background. You do need to be able to explain what factory farming is and how it's different from humane farming, with some specificity. But you don't need to know all the facts in the two posts for 10.21.
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10.22 Against meat - Norcross's Fred argument
10.25 Food choices - vegan restaurant field trips
10.28 The causal inefficacy defense - Budolfson argument that food choices have no efficacy; Norcross's threshold argument, also made by Singer
Study suggestion: Make sure you understand Norcross's Fred argument well. Use the slides. They will also help with the Budolfson vs. Norcross debate about efficacy.
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10.30 The existence argument - Zangwill's argument that we should eat animals for their sake, but only if they're humanely raised
11.01 Debate 4: Is humane farming good for animals?
11.03 Meat eating, fair/rodeo - fair/rodeo field trips
Study suggestion: Make sure you understand why Zangwill's argument is called an "existence argument."
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11.05 Animal companions - Francione & Charlton's argument that we should let companion animals go extinct; their view of domesticated animals
Study suggestion: Now we turned to using animals as companions. The important thing in here is the argument for extinction, not the material about the property status of animals.
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11.08 Using animals for research - Singer on what's going on in animal labs; John Young video; AWA regulations
11.11 Using animals for research - Singer's "human equivalent test" for deciding whether to do experiments on animals; Carbone on whether experiments have utility
Study suggestion: Singer doesn't say we should never do research on animals. When is it ethical to use animals for research in his view?
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MODULE 5: WILD ANIMALS
11.13 Wild and domesticated animals - Clare Palmer, interventionism vs. laissez faire; one-off vs. systemic assistance; capacity-based vs. context-based ethics; A, B, C, D scenarios
11.15 Life in the wild - Clare Palmer recap; Kyle Johanssen: wild animal suffering, gene drive solution
11.18 Editing wildlife - Johanssen recap, objections to Johanssen in workbook
11.20 Assisting wild animals - Interventionism vs. laissez faire (recap); Johanssen's argument in Wild Animal Ethics; the problem of wild animal suffering; gene drives
Study suggestion: Make sure you understand the material about interventionism vs. laissez faire. It's relevant to all the other material here and covered by the required question (top of this page).
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11.22 Do species matter? - Species first view: sacrificing barred owls to save spotted owls; Individuals first view: sacrificing predator species to save their prey
Study suggestion: Be aware that McMahan is also worried about predation, like Johanssen. He has an extinction solution instead of a gene-editing solution.
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12.02 Animals in captivity - Gruen on captivity: liberty (as instrumental and intrinsic good), wild animal dignity
12.04 Animals in captivity - captivity questions, field trips
Study suggestion: You need to understand Gruen's framework for evaluating zoos.
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12.06 Hunting - Non-animalist defenses of hunting; Cahoone's "meliorist" defense
Study suggestion: This article will bring us back to some of the non-animalist views from module 1. You need to review them to the extent that we apply them to the question of hunting. How is Cahoone's defense of hunting an "animalist" defense? (Is it really?)