Animal Ethics

About

A self-guided course that introduces the central issues, controversies, and dilemmas surrounding the use and treatment of animals, with a specific focus on the social and environmental implications of human-animal relationships.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course introduces the central issues, controversies, and dilemmas surrounding the use and treatment of animals, with a specific focus on the social and environmental implications of human-animal relationships. Students will develop an understanding of the current legal and philosophical frameworks that govern contemporary attitudes before engaging with a series of broader questions: Is the use of animals by humans morally justifiable? If not, why not? If so, how so? Readings and expert interviews will introduce all the major areas of thought and debate, and will be paired with counter-takes that critique or complicate their arguments. Finally, students will apply key concepts in a series of real-world case studies, exploring the larger relevance of human-animal ethics to policy, community governance, and ecological practice.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Interrogate whether or not the use of animals by humans is morally justifiable
Practice assessing ethical dilemmas from conflicting stances
Investigate core personal values, experiences, and emotions that shape their own ethics of animals while making space for new and evolving ideas
Unpack key questions of rights, responsibilities, value, utility, welfare, and morality in reference to human-animal relationships
Analyze intersectional approaches that connect animal-human forms of oppression to human-human forms of oppression
Survey diverse ideas from influential thinkers in the field of animal ethics, as well as the tensions that exist between them
Connect influential ideas with their logical and ethical implications
Practice arguing effectively against the grain when appropriate
Consider animal-human relationships in a broader, more holistic, ecological context

This course was created through and is part of :

COURSE-AT-A-GLANCE

This course includes nineteen (19) modules that cover philosophical foundations, modern perspectives, case studies, and ample space for reflection and conversation. The topical overview below provides an early taste of what you can expect as you embark on your learning journey.

Personal History - This module guides us toward personal histories that explain our current attitudes and beliefs. This will create a useful record of where we stand now, as the course begins, while outlining the questions we hope to address in subsequent modules.
Animal Welfare, Animal Rights - This module will introduce us to fundamental questions in the field of animal ethics, and help us distinguish between a) indirect and direct responsibilities to animals and b) animal welfare and animal rights. We'll also get a sense of where we fall on this ideological spectrum.
Who Counts? On moral consideration - This module will ask why we deem some animals to be morally considerable, and not others, and on what grounds.
Peter Singer, Utilitarianism, and Equal Consideration - This module will bring us beyond the journalistic value of Peter Singer's seminal Animal Liberation, and introduce Singer’s ideas as a philosopher. It will set us up to understand the controversy it generated within the animal rights movement and outside it.
Peter Singer: Counterpoints - This module will consider how Singer's work could be potent, original, influential, overly narrow, and troubling all at the same time. We will practice exercising critical attitudes toward all ideas presented in the course.
Inherent Value - This module will consider the theory of inherent value using Regan's The Case for Animal Rights, contrast it with Singer's utilitarianism, and ask us to consider where our own views lie on the spectrum between the two.
Ethics of Care - This module questions whether we should be so dispassionate and rational when considering animal ethics. What is the value (and what are the pitfalls) of empathy, compassion, and pity in relation to animal ethics?
Normalizing Violence - This module introduces us to the work of Carol Adams and Melanie Joy, who question why everyday patterns of animal consumption are so commonplace and how we normalize conditions we might otherwise object to.
Intersectional Perspectives, Part 1: Racial Injustice and Animal Ethics - This module introduces the work of writers who connect the mistreatment of animals and the mistreatment of certain groups of people. Are the power dynamics the same? We'll start with the lens of racial injustice.
Intersectional Perspectives, Part 2: Disability and Animal Ethics - This module asks whether or not we can separate disability advocacy from questions about animal ethics. How do we categorize "the human" and "the animal," and what impact do standards of "normalcy" have on both?
Considering the Lobster - This module offers an opportunity to reflect on the perspectives studied so far. Using David Foster Wallace's essay of the same name, we will practice making the argument against the use of animals by humans.
The Honorable Harvest -This module invites us to step outside of Western discourses to consider what our guiding question looks like from indigenous perspectives.
Food Sovereignty, Animal Rights, and Anti-Indigenous Bias - This module considers a real-life example of the tension between the need to consume other life and the perceived right for animals not to be killed for human uses.
Compassionate Carnivorism - This module considers how our moral judgments about the use of animals depends on context, and the degree to which "compassionate carnism" is a valid ethical stance.
Animals, the Environment, and Leopold's "Land Ethic" - Using Aldo Leopold's "Land Ethic," this module examines geology- and ecology-based arguments for meat eating.
Ecological Holism - This module introduces an approach that asks us to value animal lives differently. What do we make of "holism," which suggests overall ecosystems cannot be subordinate to the "rights" of individual organisms?
Positive Externalities - This module considers the perspective that takes seriously the suffering of individual animals that can result from their use by humans, but suggests that animal suffering is not the only or most important consideration. Can animal consumption have beneficial impacts that outweigh the negative?
Beyond Food: Considering other uses of animals - This module considers the degree to which the non-consumptive uses of animals are ethically justifiable. We will also observe and practice dialogue between people who hold different ethical perspectives.
Re-considering the Lobster - This module invites us to conclude the second section of the course by revisiting David Foster Wallace's essay in light of arguments for the justification of the human use of animals. We will then consider how our personal views have evolved since the start of the course.

AUDIENCE

Whether it's an article about cutting meat and dairy to reduce emissions, conversations about the ethics of lab-grown meat, or a sense of curiosity you feel when driving past cows grazing on pasture, our relationship to animals - particularly for food - seems particularly complex right now. And few conversations are as emotionally charged as these. Where can you go to learn more, especially if you aren't sure where you stand? Where can you find a trustworthy space for inquiry, a place where it's okay to change your mind and equally alright to reaffirm and inform what you already suspected to be true?

EcoGather's course in Animal Ethics offers a unique opportunity go back to basics and see what philosophers and farmers, writers and consumers alike have to say about the ethics of our relationships to animals. Participants who are ready to examine and question a variety of perspectives while cohering something new will undoubtedly benefit from the course, as will those looking for new ways to communicate about contentious topics.

You don't need a degree in philosophy or animal husbandry to participate - modules are focused and concise, featuring one or two thought-provoking readings or recordings as well as supporting exercises like journaling or discussion forums. The course is fully asynchronous and online; learners are expected to know the basics of navigating an online space and abide by a code of conduct, and can complete the course at their own pace. All learning materials in this course, including readings, pre-recorded video, audio, and discussions are in English.

COURSE FEE

The price of this fully asynchronous course is the result of careful and intentional planning. While its high-quality content is the product of many hours of hard work and expertise by many hands, we recognize that the information it presents is relevant for all humans on the planet, regardless of financial circumstances.

To meet this need, Sterling is offering Animal Ethics at $199, a far lower price than its rich content justifies. If this cost presents a significant barrier to your participation, please contact ecogather@sterlingcollege.edu to discuss options.

COURSE INSTRUCTOR

Meet Joe Fassler

Joe Fassler is a Denver-based writer and editor. His food and environmental reporting, which appears in outlets like Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Best American Food Writing, has been supported by the Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism and the 11th Hour Food and Farming Fellowship. In his former role as deputy editor of The Counter, stories he edited won a James Beard Media Award, appeared twice in Best American Food Writing, and netted multiple SABEW business writing awards. He's also author of Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process (Penguin Books, 2017) and the forthcoming novel The Sky Was Ours (Penguin, 2024).

Disclaimer: Course descriptions on this webpage are for informational purposes only. Content may be updated or change as planning evolves. Sterling College reserves the right to alter the program specifics, including details about course content, instructors, collaborations, field trips, facilities and pricing, at any time without notice.

Lessons20

Here is the class outline:

Welcome to Animal Ethics! Review an introduction to the course, overarching learning objectives, and meet your instructor. You'll also find some helpful guidance on navigating NEO.

In this module, we'll begin to articulate our own ethics of animals, drawing on formative personal experiences that helped to shape our attitudes (and perhaps the personal or interpersonal challenges that sometimes call those attitudes into question); create a record of our core beliefs and fundamental questions at the beginning of the course, a snapshot to look back on as the course continues; and by beginning to identify our core beliefs and fundamental questions, we will prepare for the Values Statement exercise in Module 2.

In this module, we'll continue to refine our personal animal ethics, with a focus on the universe of specific responsibilities that human beings can be said to have regarding animals. We will also differentiate between direct and indirect responsibilities, and distinguish between animal-welfare-based ethics and animal-rights-based ethics. Finally, we'll put this week’s lessons into practice by articulating where our personal beliefs fall along the ideological spectrum.

In this module, we'll define the terms “moral consideration” and “moral standing” and explain their relevance to animal ethics. We will also recognize that moral attitudes tend to vary by species, and will grapple with whether or not those distinctions are morally justifiable. Finally, we'll demonstrate our ability to articulate our own values in terms of the moral standing of animals—an initial statement of belief we’ll continue to revise and refine throughout the course.

In this module, we'll survey the basic tenets of utilitarian philosophy, explaining how it informs the philosophy of central animal rights figure Peter Singer. We will also define and apply the concept of “equal consideration,” as well as the term “speciesism” to describe the human reluctance to afford that consideration to animals. We will begin to evaluate the implications of Singer’s theories, working toward an assessment of how they might be an adequate—or inadequate—moral framework for their own decisions.

In this module, we'll analyze the backlash against Peter Singer’s work, and its relevance to larger discussions about animal ethics. We will discuss the danger of taking course readings at face value, and begin to exercise the confidence to argue against the grain when appropriate.

In this module, we'll identify the main components of the theory of inherent value; differentiate the key precepts of inherent value and utilitarianism from one another; and assess our own values, articulating which aspects of inherent value or utilitarianism most appeal to us.

In this module, we'll distinguish care ethics from rights-based ethics. We will also examine the potentially helpful role that emotions may play in ethical decision-making, using a short story as an example.

In this module, we will engage with texts arguing that meat-eating and other commonplace practices are, in fact, a form of normalized violence. We will encounter the concept of the “absent referent,” and evaluate its usefulness as a concept for decoding social attitudes toward animal suffering. Finally, we'll seek out examples from their daily lives that encode or disguise the brutality that animals experience at the hands of humans who consume them.

In this module, we will engage with arguments that animal exploitation and human oppression in the U.S. stem from the same power structures; encounter two pieces that make links between animal exploitation and race-based oppression specifically, identifying the key points of those arguments; and think critically about the connections between animal exploitation and race-based oppression, reflecting on the degree to which injustice in both spheres may or may not be related.

In this module, we will engage with arguments that suggest animal exploitation is related to other forms of discrimination; encounter an essay that uses ableism as a framework for understanding animal ethics, identifying the key points of that argument; and think critically about the connections between animal ethics and disability, reflecting on the degree to which injustice in both spheres may or may not be related.

In this module, we will apply the concepts we’ve learned in previous modules in our assessment of a real-life conundrum in animal ethics.

In encountering a text that reframes the issues described in the course so far, we will think critically about the assumptions underlying arguments for and against the use of animals. We'll unpack the ways that common, rights-based arguments seen in Western societies can be culturally contingent and not the inherent or only possible framing, and will engage with the question of whether all consumption comes with ethical weight—that animals do not necessarily have special status as opposed to, say, plants.

In this module, we'll consider whether well-intentioned arguments for animal rights can, in some cases, result in a form of cultural imperialism. We will also evaluate whether prioritizing animal rights above other considerations might result in other harms—including to humans, animals, and the environment.

In this module, we will consider how our moral judgments about the use of animals might be dependent on context. We will also evaluate whether “compassionate carnivorism” is a valid ethical stance, or whether the term is an oxymoron.

In this module, we'll consider the idea that one’s geographic and ecological context might shape ethics around the human use of animals. We will also assess how ethics formed in one biotic context inform the broader whole.

In this module, we will distinguish holism from utilitarianism and inherent value frameworks and examine the tension between ethics that prioritize individual “rights” and ethics that prioritize biotic health.

In this module, we'll survey the concept of positive and negative externalities, applying these concepts as a framework for animal ethics; assess to what degree positive externalities might help to recontextualize or complicate questions about animal suffering; and evaluate the extent to which this approach is useful or not in their own ethical decision-making.

Up until this point, our study of animal ethics has focused mostly on whether or not it's ethically acceptable to consume meat or not. In this module, we will consider the degree to which the non-consumptive uses of animals are ethically justifiable. We will also observe and practice dialogue between people who hold different ethical perspectives.

In this module, we'll conclude our study of animal ethics by applying the concepts we’ve learned in previous modules in their assessment of a real-life conundrum in animal ethics (again).

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Course Introduction: The Case for an Ethics of Animals

Module 1: Personal History

Module 2: Animal Welfare, Animal Rights

Module 3: Who Counts? On Moral Consideration

Module 4: Peter Singer, Utilitarianism, and Equal Consideration

Module 5: Peter Singer: Counterpoints

Module 6: Inherent Value

Module 7: Ethics of Care

Module 8: Normalizing Violence

Module 9: Intersectional Perspectives, Part One: Racial Injustice and Animal Ethics

Module 10: Intersectional Perspectives, Part Two: Disability and Animal Ethics

Module 11: Considering the Lobster

Module 12: The Honorable Harvest

Module 13: Food Sovereignty, Animal Rights, and Anti-Indigenous Bias

Module 14: Compassionate Carnivorism

Module 15: Animals, the Environment, and Leopold’s “Land Ethic”

Module 16: Ecological Holism

Module 17: Positive Externalities

Module 18: Beyond Food: Considering other uses of animals

Module 19: Reconsidering the Lobster