PRESENTATION TOPICS
Instructions are in syllabus.
1/23 (ideally) or 1/30 Your job is to follow up on our discussion of animals and the bible by explaining orthodox Jewish dietary laws. Start with the Kalechofsky article in Food for Thought. You should include information about how kosher meat is slaughtered. Here's a good source-- Jewish Dietary Laws. Also cover objections. See: Humane Kosher
1/30 Kant says we have no direct duties to animals, but he does think we have to be careful how we treat them, because (he claims) people who are cruel to animals tend to become cruel to humans. He cites a set of engravings by William Hogarth to illustrate his view. Your job is to find out whether there's empirical evidence to support Kant's view. Please start by showing and discussing the prints. Give us a little background about them.
1/30 This class focuses on western ideas about animals. Your job is to help us expand our horizons. Discuss animals and eastern religions (Hinduism and Buddhism, primarily). Use article by Gaffney in Food for Thought as a starting point.
2/6 The study of animal psychology inevitably has an impact on the animals. What are the concerns? Read Bekoff, Minding Animals, chapter 8 and Singer, Animal Liberation, 42-50.
2/20 Explain how animals are used for product testing. Read Singer, Animal Liberation, 52-61 and look at this website, to get started.
2/27 This week's topic is the moral rights of animals. Your job is to investigate the very different question of what legal rights animals now have. In particular, you will look at state anti-cruelty statues. You should look at Texas anti-cruelty laws, how they apply, how they've evolved, what controversies surround them, etc. See class webpage for animal law links.
2/27 Same topic as #6, but more general. How do anti-cruelty statues vary from state to state? How have they changed in recent times? Look at animal law sites on class webpage. Coordinate with presenter of #6.
3/5 What goes on in a slaughter house? What's the impact on animals? What is the impact on people who work at them? Great topic for someone who has read Fast Food Nation (Schlosser). For more information, see Temple Grandin's website.
3/5 How are beef cattle raised (from birth to death)? Essential reading: Michael Pollan, Power Steer. Also look for info on internet and draw on personal experience, if any.
3/5 Does "seafood" raise ethical questions? Look at the chapter on this in Singer & Mason's The Ethics of What We Eat. Also watch "Deep Trouble," on the DVD "The Blue Planet (Tidal Seas, Coasts)."
3/5 Is a vegetarian diet good for your health, or just neutral, or bad for your health? What about a vegan diet? Look at the USDA nutrition website for information; also look at the articles on diet in Food for Thought. That's all that's required, but feel free to use other information sources as well.
3/26 Factory farming has undergone some changes in the last year or two, under pressure from animal rights organizations. Explain these changes. The Humane Society is a good source. Also discuss Temple Grandin's role in the changes.
3/26 Is life a lot better for cage-free laying hens? You might start by getting a pamphlet from Whole Foods that explains the standards for their cage-free eggs. Then research the issue in Singer & Mason's The Ethics of What We Eat or Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.
3/26 Is life a lot better for organic cows? There is a big controversy about this, with animal organizations claiming that big organic milk producers like Horizon don't actually treat their cows much better. Research this controversy on the internet. Also look at Singer & Mason's The Ethics of What We Eat.
4/2 Describe critically useful medical research involving animals. You can find examples on pro-experimentation websites like www.amprogress.org. The Jonas Salk experiments on monkeys that yielded the polio vaccine are an oft-cited example of good animal research. Find out more about it in Splendid Solution, by Jeffrey Kluger. (Could have two people here. If so, coordinate with each other.)
4/2 What role do primates playing in medical research? A Google search yields loads of information on this topic. Also discuss the Great Ape Project
4/9 How does animal agriculture help or harm the environment? Take a closer look at the issues raised by Singer Animal Liberation 164-169). Are there additional ways animal agriculture is bad for the environment? What's the connection with global warming? Is the threat to the environment exaggerated? The Sierra Club is a good source, but look for others as well.
4/9 The Michael Vick controversy. Give us all the facts about dog fighting, the law he broke, his sentence.
4/9 Animal shelters and the controversy about euthanizing unwanted animals. Here's a good article to start with. You should visit a "kill" animal shelter (e.g. SPCA) and a "no-kill" animal shelter (e.g. Operation Kindness) to gather information.
4/16 Talk to some hunters. Why do they hunt? How do they feel about taking an animal's life? You should start by doing some reading about hunting. Look at the two short articles on hunting in The Animal Ethics Reader (Armstrong and Bolzer) pages 388-399.
4/16 Discuss the controversy over Eskimo whale hunting, explaining first the native side and then the opposition. A great description of the hunt is in The Whale and the Supercomputer (Charles Wohlforth). References in that book will help you gather more information.
4/23 Do something that betters the lives of animals. Explain what you did (and why). This could mean working at an animal shelter, getting involved with a local animal rights groups, or all kinds of other things. Discuss your ideas with me. (Could be two people. If so, coordinate with each other.)
4/23 Tell us about the living conditions of the animals at the Dallas World Aquarium. Definitely talk about the fish, the jaguar, plus other animals that interest you. Don't just "look"--use the computer screens to thoroughly inform yourself. Don't make assumptions. Ask a zookeeper for information. You should supply pictures.
4/23 Tell us about the living conditions of the primates at the Dallas Zoo--there are chimpanzees and gorillas on one end of the zoo and monkeys on the other. Also discuss the tigers and lions. Do your observations match what Elizabeth Marshall Thomas says in the reading for today? Don't make assumptions. Ask a zookeeper for information. You should supply pictures.
4/23 What's being done on behalf of endangered species at the Dallas Zoo? Where do the animals at the zoo come from? Does supplying the zoo reduce the numbers of animals in the wild? There are informative displays all over the zoo. Find a zookeeper and ask good questions.
4/23 All the same issues as #25, but apply to Dallas World Aquarium.