Universität Wien

180048 SE Moral Individualism (2015S)

Critique of a major argument in animal ethics

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 45 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 09.03. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 16.03. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 23.03. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 13.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 20.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 27.04. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 04.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 11.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 18.05. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 01.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 08.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 15.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 22.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 29.06. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The core idea of moral individualists’ is that individual capacities and properties and not group membership are the foundations of moral status. To name two prominent examples: being sentient or having interests serve as influential corner posts in animal ethics. Early animal ethicists like Peter Singer or Tom Regan followed this idea to overcome speciesism and were applauded for their achievements. However, in the early days of academic animal ethics in the 1970s also critique against this account was formulated. Criticising moral individualists, Cora Diamond and her followers reflect on preconditions and alternatives to this approach. The seminar will focus on this critique and alternative approaches in the present debate in animal ethics. The insights and arguments are not only of relevance for animal ethics. Any field that deals with the question of moral standing (e.g. medical ethics) will find arguments and a repertoire for reflection in this debate that currently sees a renaissance.

Assessment and permitted materials

- Regelmäßige aktive Teilnahme
- Kurze schriftliche Lektürereflexionen
- Referat und Diskussionsleitung in Kleingruppen
- Seminararbeit

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Das Seminar soll dazu dienen, eingehende Kenntnisse über den moralischen Individualismus im Bereich der Tierethik zu erwerben und sich mit demselben kritisch auseinanderzusetzen.

Examination topics

- Texterschließung und -analyse im Selbststudium und dialogische Erarbeitung von Inhalten im Plenum
- Gemeinsames Close Reading zentraler Passagen und Diskussion
- Verfassen von schriftlichen Arbeiten (Seminararbeit, Lektürereflexionen)
- Referate

Reading list

Ach, Johann S. (1999). Warum man Lassie nicht quälen darf. Tierversuche und moralischer
Individualismus. Erlangen: Harald Fischer Verlag.
Anderson, Elisabeth (2004): Animal Rights and the Values of Nonhuman Life, in: Sunstein, Cass
R. & Nussbaum, Martha C. (Hg.): Animal Rights. Oxford: OUP, 277–298.
Bekoff, Marc (1998): Deep Ethology, Animal Rights, and the Great Ape/Animal Project:
Resisting Speciesism and Expanding the Community of Equals, in: Journal of Agricultural
and Environmental Ethics 10, 26 –296.
Crary, Alice (2010). Minding What Already Matters. A Critique of Moral Individualism.
Philosophical Topics 38 (1), 17–49.
Diamond, Cora (1978): Eating Meat and Eating People, in: Philosophy 53, 465-479.
Francione, Gary (2008): Animals as Persons. Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation.
New York: Columbia University Press.
Mack, Eric (1999): In Defense of Individualism, in: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 2, 87–
115.
Metz, Thaddeus (2012): An African Theory of Moral Status: A Relational Alternative to
Individualism and Holism, in: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 15, 387–402.
May, Todd (2014). Moral Individualism, Moral Relationalism, and Obligations to Non-human
Animals, in: Journal of Applied Philosophy 31 (2), 155–168.
McMahan, Jeff (2005). Our fellow creatures, in: The Journal of Ethics 9, 353–380.
Palmer, Clare (2010): Animal Ethics in Context. New York: Columbia University Press.
Rachels, James (1990). Created From Animals. The Moral Implications of Darwinism. Oxford
University Press.
Regan, Tom (2004 [1983]): The Case for Animal Rights. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of
California Press.
Singer, Peter (2009 [1975]): Animal Liberation. The definitive Classic of the Animal Movement.
New York: HarperCollins.
von der Pfordten, Dietmar (2012): Five Elements of Normative Ethics – A General Theory of
Normative Individualism, in: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 15, 449–471.

Association in the course directory

BA M 12, PP 57.3.5, UF PP 09

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:36