Discussion Guidelines
You cannot just login, post several times in one day, and be done. Think of this as a discussion that we may have in the classroom, except that we are doing it online over a week. You are expected to respond to the discussion prompt with your initial post by 11:59 PM on Day 4. After submitting your initial post, provide 2 response posts, on 2 separate days. For example, if you submit your initial post on Day 4, you will submit a response post on 2 different days after Day 4. All posts need to be submitted no later than Day 7.
All posts should be thoughtful, respectful, and add substantive value to the discussion. One or two sentences is not a substantive response. All posts should be written using full sentences in paragraph form. The use of philosophical concepts is required to earn full points. Please provide both in-text citations and post-text references. Do not bother claiming that you did not provide in-text citations and post-text references because everything came from your head. You are required to include textual evidence for your claims.
Discussion Prompt
Select one of the three prompts below to respond to in your initial post this week. You are encouraged to respond to peers that explored prompts that you did not.
Prompt #1
Discuss the implications of moral consideration on some of the following practices involving nonhuman animals: meat-eating habits, pet ownership, the use of nonhuman animals in experimentations, and keeping animals in zoos.
In what ways, if any, do any of the above actions represent incompatible, even contradictory, moral values?
Do humans have a moral obligation to modify our lifestyle in order to recognize the moral status of nonhuman others?
Do you believe any of the nonhuman animals mentioned above (pets, farmed animals, zoo animals, etc.) would qualify as moral subjects, and perhaps even moral agents?
Which ethical theory (utilitarian, social contract, Kantian, etc.) is most consistent with your outlook on animals?
(USLOs 5.1, 5.2, 5.3)
Prompt #2
Discuss the implications of meat-eating nonhuman animals in relation to moral consideration.
Is it morally permissible to raise and kill animals to eat them in our society, where nutritious alternatives to animal foods are readily available?
If we were somewhere where there were inadequate non-animal foods, would that make a difference to the morality of using animals for food?
Which ethical theory (utilitarian, social contract, Kantian, etc.) is most consistent with your outlook on consuming animals?
(USLOs 5.1, 5.2, 5.3)
Prompt #3
Discuss the implications of having moral obligations toward animals.
Select one philosopher discussed either in the text or supplemental materials and discuss their perspective regarding moral obligations toward animals.
Do you believe we have any moral obligations toward animals? If so, what is the extent of these obligations? Why do we have these obligations (if we do)?
Are there different obligations toward different animals? Might certain uses of some animals be morally permissible, whereas using other animals in similar ways would be wrong? (E.g., might some experiments be wrong if done on chimpanzees, whereas morally permissible, or perhaps “less wrong,” if done on mice?