Anmeldung: Ethics in Science – Advanced Course III: Animal Ethics [ENG]

Credit Points: 0,5

Anmeldungen von Promovierenden werden bevorzugt berücksichtigt./ Registrations of doctoral candidates will be considered preferentially.

Bitte planen Sie eine etwa vierstündige Vorbereitung für diesen Kurs ein. / Please calculate with approximately four hours of preparation for this course.

Der Besuch eines Einführungskurses zur Ethik ist nicht zwingend erforderlich. / Attendance at an introductory ethics course is not mandatory.

Depending on the context and species, animals are valued and treated very differently – but rightly so? Do we owe them more than what is currently customary? Or are our animal rights ambitions a kind of narcissistic romanticism, and veganist activities expressions of a substitute religion?

Few issues are as controversial as the proper treatment of animals and which positions are to be regarded as better justified. We want to ask what makes animals worth protecting and what distinguishes humans from animals from an ethical point of view – if so. Does moral status depend on being a person, and is it independent of species boundaries? And if so, are there people who aren't persons? And animals that are? And what about other beings, such as artificial life? And what tale does it tell that our society handles its proper treatment of animals in property law?

We want to look into these fundamental questions – discursively and supported by media.

Learning Objectives:

• Differentiate levels of ethical decision-making
• Adapt general normative questions for specific cases
• Strengthen self-reflection
• Recognise and analyse anthropological issues
• Strengthen understanding of cultural techniques of arts for reflection on ethical issues