INQ-120 | Thinking Animals

Full Title: Thinking Animals

Topic Description:

Our inquiry will focus on the moral status of non-human animals and how scientific knowledge influences the formation of values. During the scientific revolution in Western civilization, animals “lost their minds” as scholars solidified a view of non-human animals as machine-like. We will examine how scientific understanding of animal behavior has progressed, reading studies of problem-solving, symbolic communication, moral decision-making, emotion, and cultural transmission of behavior in honey bees, birds, dolphins, dogs, elephants, chimpanzees, and more. We will consider the ways in which knowledge from these studies might impact our ethical reasoning about animals used for food, companionship, entertainment, research, and security. Furthermore, we will ask: what is the relationship between animal rights or welfare and ethical reasoning regarding environmental conservation? What other aspects of human culture play strong roles—stronger than science—in determining our relationships with animals? In living an examined life, how do we balance our responsibilities to persons, animals, and environment?

Counts as Global? No

Topic Approved: November 2014