This course will explore the body of knowledge about animal sentience and intelligence and the implications of human interactions with other animals.
Topics covered in this course include:
• History of animal domestication and exploitation, including the use of animals in agriculture, clothing, entertainment and sports, research, vivisection and product testing
• Cultural and social forces driving human views of other animals
• Spiritual and religious aspects of human-animal interactions
• Concepts of speciesism, animal consciousness, and privilege, and how these concepts have influenced human civilizations and treatment of animals
• Similarities between subjugation of humans and subjugation of animals
• Recent scientific breakthroughs in the study of animal sentience and intelligence
• Parallels among social justice movements, including civil rights, feminism and animal rightsSuggested Reading: Animal Liberation, Peter Singer
• Bleating Hearts, Mark Hawthorne
Maximum Class Size: 110.
