SUBJECT

Title

Animal welfare

Type of instruction

lecture

Level

master

Part of degree program
Credits

2

Recommended in

Semesters 1-4

Typically offered in

Autumn/Spring semester

Course description

I. Are the animals able to suffer? - Pain sensation in animals - Consciousness and cognition

II. Problems with the "intelligent" species - The personality of the apes; ape rights? - Do the cetaceans have personalities?

III. Breeding of stock animals - Animals in our plates - does vegetartianism offer an alternative? - Wearing a fur coat - is it an ethical issue?

IV. Animals and religions - Species of despise, worship and sacrifice

V. Experimental animals - animal experiments (1) - How far can we go? The estimation of the usefulness of an experiment - International regulations

VI. Experimental animals - animal experiments (2) - Field experimenst - from the aspect of ethics and ecology - Animals in the education

VII. Biotechnology - Genetical engineering and animal welfare - Xenotransplantation, cloning

VIII. Protecting the wild (1) - Hunting - is it merely a sport, or rather a necessity?

IX. Protecting the wild (2) - Exotic animal trade

X. Environmental protection and the ethivs - Re-location to the wild – ethical and ethological issues

XI. Zoo and Aquarium - Do we still need them in the 21st century? - Environmental enrichment – Zoos as the last resort of the species

XII. Sporting animals or human cruelty? - Rodeo, horse and greyhound racing - Bullfight

XIII. The rights of the companion animals - The responsibility of the breedres - how far we can go in altering the look? - The working companion – blindguides, military and search and rescue dogs, therapy animals

XIV. Animal protectionists – where are the boundaries between a rightful act and destructiveness? - The big achievements of the animal welfare motion - "Radical acts" - extremities in animal right protection

Readings
  • Armstrong and Botzler: Animal Ethics Reader (London, 2003)