Descartes

RR feedback

• Most people who submitted RR3 met all requirements
• A few people didn't meet all requirements...you didn't have paragraph numbers...you were over the word limit.  Still "complete" because I'm still grading leniently.
• A few people talked about Kant, when questions were about Descartes.  Those graded "incomplete."
• Use the 5 requirements as a checklist. Go through them all before submitting!
  
  
  

Preview: 

• Monday we will talk about field trips
• and go on to our next classic authors

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Rene Descartes (1600s)

• ra-NAY day-CART
• possessive: Descartes's (Day-CARTS)
• Animals in western thought (reading)
  
  
  

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Back up to some fundamental questions

Suppose I am in a room full of people and animals and I ask....

1. Am I conscious? (easy)
2. Are the other people conscious? (harder)
3. Are the animals conscious? (harder)

How can we make progress on 2 and 3?

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Reflecting on "automata" (self moving things)...robots (para 15)

• But wait...why is Descartes talking about robots! 
• Based on mechanical garden statuary, he was able to imagine some day people creating robots!

Robot reflections (para 15)

1. Imagine robot-dogs with the "same organs and outward form"
2. "We could have no means of knowing they were in any respect of a different nature from these animals" (para 15)

1. Imagine robot-humans, with the "same organs and outward form"
2. There would be two tests whereby we could know they were not really human

• The language test

para 15

• the general intelligence test

para 16

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Descartes's robot arguments (hinted at)

1. If animals can be perfectly simulated by mindless machines, then they ARE just mindless machines.
2. But they could be perfectly simulated by mindless machines.
3. So animals ARE just mindless machines

1. If humans can be perfectly simulated by mindless machines, then they ARE just mindless machines
2. But they could NOT be perfectly simulated by mindless machines.
• humans pass the language test, but mindless machines will always fail it
• humans pass the general ability test, but mindless machines will always fail it
3. So we can't draw the conclusion that humans are mindless machines

What is open to question here?

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Now let's set aside robots...how are animals and humans different?

Para 17 -- "by means of these two tests we may likewise know the difference between men and brutes"

The language difference -- all humans have SOME language, but  animals have NO SIGNIFICANT language, even the most impressive animals lack language

• exceptions that are insignificant: parrots, barking dogs, singing birds...true language gives you the liberty to express a wide range of thoughts whenever you wish ... in this sense there is no true language in animals 

The second test:  the general intelligence difference (para 21)

• the extreme abilities of some animals don't carry over to other things, which shows they aren't based on "reason"
• the extreme abilities of humans do carry over to other things, which shows they are based on "reason"

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The bottom line

• I have consciousness, reason...I know it introspectively
• You do too, because you pass the two tests
• But animals fail the tests
• Therefore...
• animals have no reason at all (para 19) .... they are "destitute of reason" (para 21)
• the soul of animals is different than ours (para 23)
• Descartes's contemporaries interpreted him as saying animals were unfeeling machines like clocks, so you could do anything to them. 
• They used his ideas to defend vivisection -- experimentation on live, awake animals

Aristotle and the Bible

Doing RRs

• If you did RR2 you got a "complete" but I gave you comments saying whether you actually met all the requirements. Also other feedback.
• Set up your notifications in Canvas so you receive your comments by email!
• Please don't include questions in your submission!

AI policy

• "You may not use AI to bypass the readings or generate any work you turn in."
• Honor code and AI policies at Canvas  
• You do not need AI to do well on the RRs! 
• Stick with what's literally in the reading; otherwise I'm going to wonder "is this AI?"

Attendance policy

• you will not normally submit excuses -- just use your 5-absence allowance (wisely)
• if you must miss an exam or presentation (etc) you do need to submit an acceptable excuse to reschedule the exam

Pop quizzes

•  7-8 over the semester (randomly scheduled)
• there will be a sample quiz that doesn't count before there are any that do count
• lowest quiz score will be dropped
• if you miss a quiz you can have the grade waived if you submit an acceptable excuse

Reading philosophy

• guide at top of blog
• important: don't get bogged down. you won't understand every line.

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Three questions raised by the Icelanders dual relationship with puffins

• What is the basic relationship between humans and animals?
• equals, unequals?
• obligations to them, no obligations to them?

• Can we eat animals and use them in other ways?

• If we eat and use them, does it make sense to also care about them?

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Module 1-- classic views on these questions -- all still influential

1. Ancient world -- Aristotle, bible passages
2. 1600s -- Descartes
3. 1800s -- Kant, Bentham
4. 1970s -- Singer, Regan
5. beyond the west -- Hinduism

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Animals in western thought (reading)

Who was Aristotle?

• 4th century BC Athens (4 centuries after Homer wrote the Odyssey)
• student of Plato, teacher of Alexander the Great
• From the Politics, Book I chap. 5 & 8

Aristotle, Book I chap. 5 (we will read passages)

• ruler-subject built into the "constitution of the universe"
• soul-body, reason-passion, men-women, humans-animals, masters-slaves
• rule of ruler over subject is better for the ruler AND the subject
• implications: using animals for labor

But what about eating them? Book I chap. 8 (we will read passages)

1. Nature provides food for newborns (oviparous, vermiparous, viviparous)
2. Likewise it must provide food for all living things
3. So it must be that plants are food for animals; animals are food for humans

Should we care about animals?

• they do have feelings on Aristotle's view (see Aristotle's De Anima)
• our rule should be "better for both"

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Bible passages...who wrote them, when, how exactly to interpret, what kind of authority does the bible have? (not this class!)

For each, compare to Aristotle...

1. Gen 1, creation 
2. Gen 1, 2, dominion 
3. Gen 1 and then 9 on eating animals 
4. Gen 9 on covenant 
5. Isaiah prophesy

The Peaceable Kingdom, Edward Hicks

Introduction

INTRODUCTIONS

• what is your favorite kind of animal encounter? 
• e.g. interacting with your cat, spotting an animal in the wild, riding a horse, being at the zoo, etc.

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BLOG TOUR

CANVAS TOUR

• Home/schedule page
• instructions, policies at top
• Scroll down to each day to to find readings and assignments
• Simple syllabus, basis for grade
• Attendance policy

MORE 

• End of today: we'll discuss reading responses
• Wed: the AI policy
• Fri: more about field trips

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WHAT IS THIS CLASS ABOUT?

THE PLAN: 7 MODULES

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OUR CONFLICTING ATTITUDES TOWARD ANIMALS

ICELANDERS AND PUFFINS

WESTMAN ISLANDS: LOVING PUFFINS

Watch up to 8:00 -- "Every puffin counts"

GRIMSEY ISLAND: KILLING PUFFINS

Hunting article
the lundaveiðar (summer puffin hunt) tradition

THE SAME PEOPLE SAVE & KILL/EAT

• the hunters on Grimsey are from the Westman Islands
• they bring the puffins back for a summer feast everyone participates in (Thjóðhátíð)
• so the same people save and eat puffins  

OTHER EXAMPLES CLOSER TO HOME

POSITIONS

1. SAVE & KILL. Makes sense to love, save AND kill eat...no confusion, no conflict
2. SAVE, DON'T KILL.  
3. KILL, DON'T SAVE. 

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NEXT TIME: Classic views

1. Aristotle
2. Passages from Bible
3. What would they say about the Icelanders?
4. Descartes
5. Kant
6. Bentham
7. Singer
8. Regan
9. Hindu views

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READING RESPONSES

Welcome!

This is the class blog for Phil 3377, Animal Rights, at SMU. It contains the material presented during class.  If you miss class, visit the blog to see what was covered. Go to Canvas to find the class schedule, the syllabus, policies, grades, etc.