Final Exam
Study Guide
The final will be similar to the midterm. You will answer 3-4 essay questions, with some choice. Each question will have several parts. It should take you about 1 1/2 hours to take the exam, but you will have the full 3 hours if you want it.
Only the material since the midterm will be covered. Topics and tips, below.
10/15
Animals as Food
Required: AL 95-157, FT chapter 6 (all), and FT chapter 10 (124-9). Recommended: “An Animal’s Place” and “Power Steer” (both web).
You should be able to discuss the situation of animals in factory farms and slaughter houses (with plenty of examples and details). Singer's chapter is informative, as are the videos on the class website--make sure you've seen them.
We discussed how much change is "enough" change. The "5 farms" visual on the class website presents a spectrum of options, from the status quo to getting rid of animal farming altogether.
The Scruton article argues that factory farming is unacceptable, but it's enough if we move (back) to humane, traditional farming. Drawing on his article, we talked at length about several defenses of humane animal farming--(1) the Respect Defense, (2) the Replacement Defense, (3) the Population Defense. You should have a thorough understanding of each.
10/22
Animals
as Food
Required: FT chapters 7 and 9; AL 159-169. Recommended: “Rethinking the Meat Guzzler” (web).
We continued to discuss the "5 farms" visual and Scruton's defense of humane farming.
Gruzalski also discusses humane farming, coming at it from a utilitarian perspective. Be sure you understand his basic case for vegetarianism and why he doesn't accept Scruton's defense of humane animal farming.
We discussed the population issue in detail. The question is whether there is more total happiness in a world with ideal/traditional humane animal farming, or in a world with only plant farming. A critical question is how many animals there would be in the plant farming world. Gruzalski's point about wild animals is important. So is Singer's discussion of the land-inefficiency of animal farming.
Singer makes many arguments for the claim that we should choose vegetarianism, not eating humanely-raised meat. You should understand those arguments.
Frey says vegetarianism doesn't save the lives of animals. You should be able to explain this argument and explain what Singer would say about it.
We didn't discuss FT chapter 7, so you can skip it.
10/29 Animal Experimentation
AL 25-37, 69-74; AE chapters 1, 13, and 15.
We discussed various ethical standards we could bring to the assessment of animal research. The one we settled on for today is the "Necessity Test." We applied it to the 1950s research of Jonas Salk, a hero for advocates of animal research, and Harry Harlow, who is viewed as a particular villain by animal advocates.
You should be able to explain the test and then discuss whether Salk's research and Harlow's research were justifiable by that standard. (There's a lot about Harlow in Singer and there are Harlow videos on the class webpage).
You should be able to explain the basic elements of the Animal Welfare Act (class website) You should also be able to discuss problems with the AWA that have been alleged by animal advocates. The Columbia undercover video (class website) gave us an idea what an AWA-compliant lab can look like.
11/5
Animals and the Law
AR chapters 1 and 2.
We discussed existing animal protection law: state animal cruelty laws, the AWA, state referenda. You should have a sense of the limitations of current law, and why animal advocates might think radical change is necessary.
We discussed two quite different proposals for radical change. You need to understand Wise's proposal and now it is different from Sunstein's (11/12).
The main thing to focus on in Posner is his claim that moral instincts can't be changed by ethical argument.
11/12
Animals and the Law
AR chapters 3 and 11.
Singer's article for this week challenges Posner's argument about moral instincts. There's a summary of their debate on the class website.
Sunstein's article should be studied in depth. You should be aware of points that emerged in our debate about his proposal that animals should be able to sue for violation of existing animal protection laws.
On the class website, there's a "Legal Strategies" visual comparing Posner and Sunstein's proposals with more more traditional strategies.
11/19
Wildlife
You should understand the three views we discussed about what has intrinsic value vs. instrumental value in an ecosystem (sentient individualism, environmental holism, and the "Noah's ark" view).
You should also be able to explain the difference it makes which of the three views is adopted, when we are thinking about the problem of endangered species; the ethics of hunting; and the ethics of keeping animals in zoos.
We talked about hunting in some depth, discussing 4 types of hunting, and distinguishing questions of impact from questions of character. The questions we focused on was comparative: is hunting really any worse than supporting the mainstream meat industry?
The discussion of zoos was finished on 12/3. The three views we started with lead to different ways of thinking about zoos. Only the sentient individualist is terribly worried about what it is like for an individual animal to live in a zoo. Contrasting views on that question are offered by Yann Martel and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. See the class website for excerpts from their books ("The Lives of Zoo Animals").
12/3
Animal Activism
AE chapter 14;
In order to think about activism itself, it's helpful to assume the correctness of one of the pro-animal philosophies we have discussed in this class. Then the question is what you may do to improve the lot of animals, and what is "over the line," ethically speaking.
Make sure you understand how Singer argues that destroying an animal lab is ethically permissible under certain very specific conditions. (What are those conditions?)
We also discussed other less destructive forms of animal activism: making undercover videos, freeing animals, and the Lindsay Lohan "flour bomb" episode.