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2020/2021

Animal Ethics

Code: 43841 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
4316227 Applied Philosophy OT 0 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Marta Tafalla González
Email:
Marta.Tafalla@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)

Prerequisites

There is no previous requirement other than to be interested in these questions.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The main objective is to offer a panoramic view of the international contemporary debate on animal ethics from a critical perspective. We will analyze the principal theories and discuss concepts such as specism, anthropocentrism, animal liberation, animal welfare and animal rights. We will also examine the practical problems these theories try to solve, that is, we will reflect on the so called companion animals, animals raised to be consumed, animal experimentation, animal assisted therapies, the use of animals as vehicles, the use of animals for entertainment, hunting practices, zoos, animal use in circus, animals in art, etc. We will also analyze the massive extermination of species, destruction of ecosystems, climate chaos and in general the ecocide our civilization is committing. Finally, we will examine the animal rights movement and its relations with other social movements, such as environmentalism and feminism, and we will study the strategies of these movements to improve the law, politics, culture and our daily life. We will try to imagine a future where the human being learns to live in peace with the multispecies community that makes up the biosphere.

 

Competences

  • Analyze critically and synthesize information obtained from an article or a specialized monograph, and from quality information distributed on the web.
  • Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  • Contribute to debates in current philosophical research making significant critical contributions, with conceptual precision and good arguments by means of public presentation.
  • Critically assess the implications on the human condition of new ideological, political, economic and technological forms that impact on the contemporary world.
  • Define, design, plan and prepare an original and unpublished work of philosophical research, following established academic-scientific parameters.
  • Identify and describe the relevant theoretical elements in contemporary ethical research, especially those associated with the question of good, justice and their political implications.
  • Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  • Organize one’s own time and resources to undertake research: design a plan by prioritizing objectives, schedules and commitments.
  • Search for, select and manage information autonomously, both from structured sources (data bases, bibliographies, specialized journals) and from information distributed on the web.
  • Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
  • Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyze critically and synthesize information obtained from an article or a specialized monograph, and from quality information distributed on the web.
  2. Apply knowledge of philosophy to current institutional debates on problem areas in animal ethics.
  3. Apply the content and contemporary theories of animal ethics to an academic paper in philosophy, following the criteria of philosophical writing.
  4. Apply the terminology and concepts of animal ethics in real cases of relative moral dilemmas.
  5. Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  6. Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  7. Critically examine prejudice in the conception of the relationship between humans and the other animal species and the whole biosphere.
  8. Organize one’s own time and resources to undertake research: design a plan by prioritizing objectives, schedules and commitments.
  9. Search for, select and manage information autonomously, both from structured sources (data bases, bibliographies, specialized journals) and from information distributed on the web.
  10. Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
  11. Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.

Content


1. Dominion of other animals: how the system works 2. Basic concepts of animal ethics 3. Main theories of animal ethics 4. Zoopolis, the proposal by Donaldson and Kymlicka 5. Massive extermination of species, climate chaos, ecocide 6. Animal ethics and environmental ethics 7. Animal ethics and ecofeminism 8. Reconnecting with the other animals and nature 9. Animal aesthetics and aesthetics of nature 10. Possible futures

 

Methodology

The sessions in the classroom will consist on the analysis and discussion of ethical theories and the practical problems they try to solve.

 

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lecture sessions, where theories and readings will be analyzed and discussed 37.5 1.5 1, 3, 4, 2, 9, 7, 8, 10, 5, 6, 11
Type: Supervised      
Short essay writing 37.5 1.5 1, 3, 4, 2, 9, 7, 8, 10, 5, 6, 11
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous reading 75 3 1, 3, 4, 2, 9, 7, 8, 10, 5, 6, 11

Assessment

Participation in class: 20 %

Writing a short essay: 50 %

Defending the short essay: 30%

 

Students must write a short essay on a subject of the course previously agreed with the lecturer, and must also defend it orally.

Review: once the students work has been marked, the students can review it at the lecturer's office.

Reevaluation: if a student fails the course, will have a second oportunity to re-write the short essay and defend it orally.

 

 

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity,
regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

 

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Defending the short essay 30 % 0 0 1, 3, 4, 2, 7, 10, 5, 6, 11
Participation in class 20% 0 0 1, 4, 2, 7, 10, 5, 11
Writing a short essay 50 % 0 0 1, 3, 4, 2, 9, 7, 8, 10, 5, 6, 11

Bibliography

 

 

Adams, Carol & Gruen, Lori (eds.), Ecofeminism. Feminist intersections with other animals and the earth (Bloomsbury, 2014)

Albelda, José; Parreño, José María & Marrero Henríquez, J. M. (eds.), Humanidades ambientales (Los Libros de la Catarata, 2018)

Almiron, Núria & Khazaal, Natalie, "Lobbying Against Compassion: Speciesist Discourse in the Vivisection Industrial Complex", American Behavioral Scientist, 60(3), 2016.

Antón, Eva, Género y naturaleza en las narrativas contemporáneas francesa y española (Universidad de Valladolid, 2018)

Brady, Emily, "Aesthetic Value and Wild Animals" in M. Drenthen and J. Keulartz, (eds.), Environmental Aesthetics (New York: Fordham University Press, 2014)

Casal, Paula, "Los derechos homínidos. Una defensa ecuménica", Daimon, 2017.

Codina, Juan Ignacio, Pan y toros: breve historia del pensamiento antitaurino español (Plaza y Valdés, 2018)

Donaldson, Sue & Kymlicka, Will, Zoopolis. A Political Theory of Animal Rights (Oxford University Press, 2011); Zoópolis. Una revolución animalista (Errata Naturae, 2018) trans. Silvia Moreno Parrado.

Escartín, Montse, "La literatura, una forma de audacia moral", Actas del Primer Congreso de la Red Española de Filosofía, 2015.

Faria, Catia & Paez, Eze, "Anthropocentrism and speciesism: conceptual and normative issues", Bioética y Derecho, num 32, 2014.

Fernández, Laura, Hacia mundos más animales (Ochodoscuatro ediciones, 2018)

Horta, Oscar, Un paso adelante en defensa de los animales (Plaza y Valdés, 2017)

Hribal, Jason, Los animales son parte de la clase trabajadora (Ochodoscuatroediciones, 2014)

Khazaal, Natalie & Almiron, Núria, "An Angry Cow is not a Good Eating Experience. How U.S. and Spanish Media are Shifting from Crude to Camouflaged Speciesism in Concealing Nonhuman Perspectives", Journalism Studies, 17(3), 2016.

Leyton, Fabiola, Los animales en la bioética (Herder, 2019)

Monbiot, George, Feral. Rewilding the land, the sea, and human life (The University of Chicago Press, 2014); Salvaje. Renaturalizar la tierra, el mar y la vida humana (Capitan Swing, 2018) trans. Ana Momplet Chico.

Plumwood, Val, Environmental Culture (Routledge, 2002)

Puleo, Alicia, Ecofeminismo para otro mundo posible (Cátedra, 2011)

Puleo, Alicia, Claves ecofeministas para rebeldes que aman a la Tierra y a los animales (Plaza y Valdés, 2019)

Riechmann, Jorge, Interdependientes y ecodependientes. Ensayos desde la ética ecológica y hacia ella (Proteus, 2012)

Tafalla, Marta, "La apreciación estética de los animales. Consideraciones estéticas y éticas", Bioética y Derecho, num 28, 2013.

Tafalla, Marta, "Una estética del circo y de los espectáculos circenses con animales", Convivium, num 27/28, 2015.

Tafalla, Marta, "The aesthetic appreciation of animals in zoological parks", Contemporary Aesthetics, vol 15, 2017.

Tafalla, Marta, Ecoanimal. Una estética plurisensorial, ecologista y animalista (Plaza y Valdés, 2019)

Tempest Williams, Terry, Refuge (Pantheon Books, 1991); Refugio (Errata Naturae, 2018) trans. Regina López Muñoz.

Velasco, Angélica, La ética animal. ¿Una cuestión feminista? (Cátedra, 2017)