Agricultural Animal Bioethics Curriculum Module 2

Please note that Modules 1-3 are currently being updated; content may be modified at a later date.

Modules and Supplementary Materials 

• Module 2, Lecture 1: Philosophical Approaches to Animal Ethics
• Module 2, Lecture 2: "Conceptualizing Animal Welfare in the Context of Ethics"

Module 2, Lecture 1: Philosophical Approaches to Animal Ethics

Presentation

• Module 2, Lecture 1 Presentation (PDF)

Reading

• Varner, Gary. 2010. "Animals in Agriculture," in Gary Comstock, ed., Life Science Ethics, 2nd edition, pp. 239-265. New York: Springer.

Cases

• The following cases were designed to go with an ancestral version of this lecture:
  • "Specific Agricultural Practices" (PDF)
  • "Hunting Cases" (PDF)
• The following two documents were designed for use together along with that ancestral version. The first is a "summary handout" and the second is an exercise about agricultural ethics which refers to the handout:
  • "General Agricultural Practices – Summary Handout" (PDF)
  • "General Agricultural Practices – Cases" (PDF)
• At a more theoretical level, the following handout can be used to generate discussion about what moral considerations (maximizing aggregate happiness versus respecting individual rights, along with considerations of autonomy, etc.) are motivating students’ reactions to these versions of some classic "thought experiments" in philosophical ethics:
  • "The Bloggs cases" (PDF)

Module 2, Lecture 2: "Conceptualizing Animal Welfare in the Context of Ethics"

Presentation

• Module 2, Lecture 2 Presentation (PDF)

Reading

• Croney, Candace C. and Raymond Anthony. 2011. "Invited Review: Ruminating Conscientiously: Scientific and Socio-Ethical Challenges for U.S. Dairy Production." Journal of Dairy Science 94(2): 539-546.

Cases

• There is a "think-pair-share" exercise on slide #13, about how students conceive of animal welfare.
• There are also "questions for thought" on slides #20 ("as we acknowledge the minds and emotions of animals, does this create a need for additional ethical consideration?") and #22 ("why consider ethics?").
• And at the end (slides ##24-26) the case of tie-stalls for dairy cows is presented.
• The cases stored on our web site that related to conceptualizing animal welfare include:
  • "Perches for Laying Hens" (PDF)
  • "Arthritic German Shepherd" (PDF)
  • "Specific Agricultural Practices" (PDF)