Introduction to Animal Ethics | KyotoUx on edX

Описание: Take this course for free on edx.org: https://www.edx.org/course/introducti...

Learn about what ethical issues arise in human-animal relationships, and how to think about such issues systematically. The course utilizes Manga as a study aid.

Why do many of us who eat pigs condemn those who eat dogs? Is there any difference between lab mice and companion hamsters that justify the use of the former for drug tests? Our attitude toward animals is full of seeming inconsistencies and unexplained conventions. Animal ethics is the field that tries to make sense of human-animal relationships using insights from philosophical ethics, and this course is an introduction to the field.

This course has several distinctive characteristics from other animal ethics education materials. First, this course uses situations of animals in Japan as illustrative cases, which makes this course as a means to learn something about Japanese culture. Second, it also uses Manga to think about actual situations.

By listening to the lectures and thinking through the issues presented, you will acquire the ability to think more clearly and systematically about human-animal relationships.

Topics include:

Training of companion animals;
Neutering of companion animals;
Animal experimentation for cosmetics;
Eating farm animals;
Environmental enrichment in zoos.

What You'll Learn:
Systematic thinking about ethical issues related to human-animal relationship
Basic principles for the treatment of companion animals
The idea of animal welfare and its application for animal experimentation
Controversies over farm animals
Controversies over zoo animals
Philosophical debate over speciesism and animal rights