PHIL 140: Animal Ethics and Service
Course Syllabus: May 2015
Kathie Jenni / University of Redlands
Course Description:
An introduction to animal ethics incorporating philosophical readings, films, discussions, writing reflections, and hands-on experience volunteering for a variety of animal organizations. Two half-days each week are devoted to class-time; two other halfdays are devoted to volunteer work at local animal shelters and sanctuaries: cleaning, feeding, and watering; socializing and exercising animals; maintenance of animal living areas; and more. We will supplement our weekly activities with occasional field-trips to tour and volunteer at animal sanctuaries in the surrounding region. Prerequisite: instructor permission; grading is CR/NC only. This course meets the Community Service Learning graduation requirement, and it is an appropriate Practicum experience for the Human-
Animal Studies (HAST) Minor.
Course Objectives:
1) To introduce you to philosophical thought about animal ethics;
2) To introduce you to the philosophical skills of identifying and questioning assumptions, identifying and critically evaluating arguments, making important conceptual distinctions, and arriving at well-reasoned judgments of your own about ethical questions;
3) To provide training and experience in the care of abandoned and abused animals; and
4) To enable you to integrate philosophical thought about animals with practical experience helping them.
Weekly Topics:
Week One : Animal Companions. The nature of companion animals (vs. wild animals); the ethics of caring for animal companions; dog and cat overpopulation; killing in animal shelters.
Week Two: Farmed Animals. The ethics of factory farming and the use of animals for food.
Week Three: Wild Animals. The values of wild animals and the ethics of our treatment of them.

Week Four : The Legal and Moral Standing of Animals. Alternative criteria for moral standing; animals as resources and property vs . animals as rights-bearers or persons; anthropocentrism and speciesism; theories of animal equality; objections to animal rights.
Assignments and Evaluation:
This course is offered on a Credit-No Credit (or Evaluation) basis only. The following elements will be considered in your evaluation, and credit will not be awarded if these assignments are not completed.
1) Weekly Short Reflections : Each week, you will be given one or two short (1-2 page) writing assignments that will ask you to consider course ideas and tie them to your volunteer work. You’ll be asked to discuss these reflections in class, and they will be collected. (See sample reflection assignments on last page.)
2) Final Reflection Paper
: You’ll be asked to write a 4-5 page final reflection on your experience as a whole this May and the evolution of your thoughts about animal ethics throughout the month. Please identify the most important things you have learned about animals, people, philosophy, culture, or yourself. Bring your final reflection with you on the last day of class, which will include a wrap-up session in which we’ll share concluding thoughts.
3) Volunteer Work:
You’ll be expected (of course) to follow instructions and suggestions given by sanctuary/shelter workers wherever we are volunteering, and to throw yourself into the work with seriousness, good cheer, and care. If you ever find yourself uncertain of what to do, just ask!
4) Class Participation and Overall Effort : You’re expected to come to each class prepared to discuss the reading assignments and to share your thoughts about them and your work with animals. You’re also expected to be a good “mate”: a courteous and helpful class-mate, a good companion to those who work with you, and in general a good sport about the challenges of new situations.
Course Readings:
Most readings are taken from The Animal Ethics Reader , edited by Susan J.
Armstrong & Richard G. Botzler, 2 nd edition (NY: Routledge, 2008) and Animal Rights and Human Obligations , edited by Tom Regan and Peter Singer, 2 nd
Edition (Prentice-
Hall, 1989).

Week 1: Animal Companions
Shepard: “The Pet World”
Rollin & Rollin: “Dogmaticisms and Catechisms: Ethics and Companion Animals”
Palmer: “Killing Animals in Animal Shelters”
Leigh & Geyer: “The Miracle of Life”
Film: Dogs Decoded
Week 2: Farmed Animals
Singer: “Down on the Factory Farm”
Rachels: “The Basic Argument for Vegetarianism”
Gruzalski: “Why It’s Wrong to Eat Animals Raised and Slaughtered for Food”
Film: Fowl Play
Week 3: Wild Animals
Callicott: “The Philosophical Value of Wildlife”
Clement: “The Ethic of Care and Wild Animals”
Jamieson: “Against Zoos”
Film: The Witness
Week 4: The Moral and Legal Standing of Animals
Francione: “Animals as Property”
Kant: “We Have Only Indirect Duties to Animals”
Regan: “The Case for Animal Rights”

Sample Reflective Writing Assignments
1.
In your own reactions and those of others to animals this week, can you distinguish instances of anthropomorphism from accurate assessments of feelings and mental life in animals? How so? Provide examples.
2.
What evidence of sensitivity to pain and pleasure, intelligence, selfconsciousness, and emotional responsiveness have you encountered in animals as you volunteered this week?
3.
Which abuses of animals that you have worked with were due to cruelty or malice, and which to thoughtlessness, ignorance, or inattention? Which, if any, are worse—and in what ways? What kinds of preventive or corrective action does each call for?
4.
How do stereotypes of animals affect our society’s treatment of them, and how do those stereotypes diverge from reality?
5.
Consider the lines that Americans draw between animals we treasure as companions, and animals that we use for food and other products. Why do those particular lines exist? Are there good reasons for them? Why do other cultures (e.g., those that consider dogs to be a food-source, cats to be vermin, or cows to be sacred) draw the lines in different ways? Which lines seem justified to you, and why?
6.
Are there uses of animals that are not exploitive? If so, what is it that makes them unobjectionable? More generally, can you say what makes some practices involving animals exploitative and wrong, and others unobjectionable or even praiseworthy?
7. Can you identify in which ways (if any) you, personally, value wild
animals (among the ways discussed by Callicott)? Which (if any) wild
animals do you especially value or treasure (or not value), and why do you
think this is so?
8. Can you identify “schizophrenia” in your own attitudes toward different animals (of the kind that Francione discusses)? Do you think these mixed attitudes make sense, or do you think it would be good to change them— and why?
9. What kinds of education and activism seem to you to be most effective in
helping to improve the lives of animals, and why?
10. For someone who wants to help animals, but is not sure how to go about
it, what advice would you offer based on your experiences this month?

ITINERARY FOR PHIL 140: ANIMAL ETHICS & SERVICE / MAY 2015
Kathie’s Cell-Phone #: 406-366-0685
Week One:
Monday, April 27: Class, 9-12 noon, HOL 115
Tuesday, April 28: Orientation & volunteering at YAPS and SBCAS, 8 a.m. to noon
Wednesday, April 29: Class, 9-12, HOL 115
Thursday, April 30: OFF
Friday, May 1: Volunteering at YAPS and SBCAS, 8-12
Saturday May 2: Volunteering at True Innocents Equine Rescue (T.I.E.R.), 8-12*
Week Two:
Monday, May 4: Class, 9-12, HOL 115
Tuesday, May 5: Volunteering at YAPS and SBCAS, 8-12
Wednesday, May 6: Class, 9-12, HOL 115
Thursday, May 7: OFF
Friday, May 8: Volunteering at YAPS and SBCAS, 8-12
Saturday, May 9: Volunteering and Tour at Farm Sanctuary, Acton, CA, all day*
Week Three:
Monday, May 11: Class, 9-12, HOL 115
Tuesday, May 12: Volunteering at YAPS and SBCAS, 8-12
Wednesday, May 13: Class, 9-12, HOL 115
Thursday, May 14: Docent Tour of Big Bear Alpine Zoo, Big Bear, CA, all day*
Friday, May 15: Volunteering at YAPS and SBCAS, 8-12
Saturday, May 16: Tours of Wolf Mountain (Lucerne Valley) & Forever Wild (Phelan)
Week Four:
Monday, May 18: Class, 9-12, HOL 115
Tuesday, May 19: Volunteering at YAPS and SBCAS, 8-12
Wednesday, May 20: Class, 9-12, HOL 115
Thursday, May 21: Last Day of Class (final reflections due), 9-11, HOL 115
* Saturday activities and Big Bear Alpine Zoo tour are optional. But please let KJ know
ASAP if you must miss them!