Hello, dear friend, you can consult us at any time if you have any questions, add WeChat: daixieit

ESSAY 1 – Animal Ethics

This essay is due Friday 11/3 by 11:59pm PST. I (or your TA) will usually grant extensions, but you MUST request one before the due date. See the syllabus for the late work policy.

Please write an essay of 3-4 double-spaced pages in length (or 1.5-2 single-spaced pages) that answers one of the prompts below. Two factors will contribute to your grade:

(A) Demonstration of engagement with assigned readings. It is okay to talk about fewer    readings in more depth or more of the readings in less depth, but you must talk about the readings in an informed way. This requires the use of in-text references to specific pages in these texts. A paper with no textual references will not receive full credit. You should  aim to write a paper that demonstrates careful and precise understanding of arguments

and ideas from these texts. In short, your paper should prove that you have spent

considerable time working on understanding the readings. That is a large part of the workload for this course.

(B) Cogency of argument and organization. A poorly organized paper that does not include an attempt at original argument, or that includes only very disorganized attempts at

argument will not receive full credit. (Hint: if you end the paper by saying that all the

authors’ views are correct, then you probably haven’t argued. A sign that you are making an argument is that you are claiming that someone is wrong about something). You

should aim to write a paper that explains key ideas from the texts (see (A)) and then

builds your own argument by responding to, or further developing, these ideas. I do not expect your arguments to be flawless, but I do expect them to reflect effort and thought. Please see the supplementary ‘How to Do Philosophy’ and ‘How to Write Philosophy’  videos for more on this.

Prompts:

1.   Are most of us speciesists? If so, then how morally guilty are we? (In other words, are we fully blameworthy, partially responsible, or fully innocent?) If most of us are not

speciesists on your view, explain why not. Defend your answer through argument and engagement with texts.

2.   What, if anything, does the argument from marginal cases demonstrate? Defend your answer through argument and engagement with texts.

3.   To what degree, if any, should we take plants into moral consideration? Defend your answer through argument and engagement with texts.

4.   Is there a feature (or group of features) of living things in virtue of which we owe them  moral consideration? If so, what is this feature (or group of features)? Is it possessed by all living things, by many, or by few? Defend your answer through argument and

engagement with texts.

5.   How can we best understand the needs and desires of living things? How far can we get  by imagining ourselves in place of the animal (or plant)? What other resources, besides   imagination, can we use, and how far can they get us? Are there any limits on our ability to know what others want and need? Defend your answer through argument and

engagement with texts.