Ethics, Aesthetics, and Animals
Philosophy 301, Topics in Ethical Theory
Schedule, Fall 2011
1. Introduction
ETHICS AND AESTHETICS
2. Mary Deveraux "Beauty and Evil: The Case of Leni Riefenstah's Triumph of the Will," In Jerrold Levinson, Aesthetics and Ethics: Essays at the Intersection, Cambridge 1998, pp. 227-256.
3. Berys Gaut, “Just Joking: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Humor,” Philosophy and Literature 22 (1998): 51-68.
4. Berys Gaut, “The Ethical Criticism of Art” in Levinson Aesthetics and Ethics (Cambridge 1998) 182-203.
5. Matthew Kieran , “Art, Morality and Ethics: On the (Im)Moral Character of Art Works and Inter-Relations to Artistic Value” Philosophy Compass (February 2006): 129-143.
6. Two readings:
a. Marcia Eaton, Part II: Taking the Aesthetic Seriously, pp. 55-56, from Merit, Aesthetic and Ethical (Oxford, 2001)
b. Marcia Eaton, Ch 5: The Separatist Mistake, pp. 57-69, from Merit, Aesthetic and Ethical (Oxford, 2001)
Friday, Sept 9th Ethics and Aesthetics paper proposal and literature review due
7. Two readings:
a. Marcia Eaton, Ch 7: Aesthetics: The Mother of Ethics, pp. 81-94, from Merit, Aesthetic and Ethical (Oxford, 2001)
b. Marcia Eaton, Part III, “Integrating Aesthetic and Moral Value,” pp. 95-97, from Merit, Aesthetic and Ethical (Oxford, 2001)
8. Marcia Eaton, Ch 12: Aesthetics and Ethics in the Environment, pp. 175-196, from Merit, Aesthetic and Ethical (Oxford, 2001)
9. Ned Hettinger, “Animal Beauty, Ethics, and Environmental Preservation,” Environmental Ethics 32 (2010): 115-134.
10. Exam on Aesthetics and Ethics (Thursday, Sept 22)
ETHICS AND ANIMALS
11. Peter Singer, “Taking Life: Animals” from On the Human (2011)
a. https://onthehuman.org/2011/02/taking-life-animals/
12. Bernard Williams, “The Human Prejudice,” Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline (Princeton, 2006), pp. 135-154
Friday, Sept 30, Ethics and Aesthetics paper due
13. Dale Jamieson, "The Rights of Animals and the Demands of Nature," Environmental Values 17 (2008), pp. 181-199.
14. Elizabeth Anderson, “Animal Rights and the Values of Nonhuman Life,” in Cass Sunstein and Martha Nussbaum eds., Animal Rights (Oxford 2004), pp. 277-298.
15. Christine Korsgaard , “Fellow Creatures: Kantian Ethics and Our Duties to Animals” in the Tanner Lectures on Human Values (2004), pp. 77-110
a. https://www.tannerlectures.utah.edu/lectures/documents/volume25/korsgaard_2005.pdf
16. Koorsgaard, continued
17. Martha Nussbaum, “Beyond ‘Compassion and Humanity’: Justice for Nonhuman Animals” in Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, and Species Membership. (Harvard 2006) (hereafter “Nussbaum”), pp. 325-356.
18. Nussbaum, pp. 357-387
19. Thursday, October 27: Film; Triumph of the Will? Witness?
20. Nussbaum, pp. 388-407
21. Jeffery McMahon, “The Meat Eaters,” NY Times, September 19, 2010 on class webpage
a. https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/the-meat-eaters/
Monday, Nov 7, Paper proposal and literature review on Ethics and Animals due
22. Clare Palmer, Animal Ethics in Context (Columbia 2010) (hereafter “Palmer”), Introduction and Ch 1: Animals’ Capacities and Moral Status, pp. 1-24
23. Palmer, Ch 2: Capacity-Oriented Accounts of Animal Ethics, pp. 25-43
24. Palmer, Ch 3: Capacities, Contexts and Relations, pp. 44-62
25. Palmer, Ch 4: Wildness, Domestication, and the Laissez-faire Intuition and Ch 5: Developing a New, Relational Approach, pp. 64-95
Monday, Nov 21, Paper on Ethics and Animals due
26. Palmer, Ch 6: Past Harms and Special Obligations, pp. 96-114
27. Palmer, Ch 7: Some Problems and Questions, pp. 115-140
28. Palmer, Ch 8: Puzzling Through Some Cases and Conclusion, pp 141-166
Exam on Ethics and Animals, Thursday, Dec 8, 12-3