Goucher College 2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalogue 
    
    May 19, 2024  
Goucher College 2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.

PHL 128 - Philosophy and the Animal (4 Cr.)

(Formerly PHL 228)
Are humans animals? Are animals persons? Philosophy’s engagement with animal beings has traditionally been limited to the ethical question of how they should be treated. This class goes beyond animal ethics to consider the deeper ontological and epistemological assumptions underlying the ethical debates. What does it mean to “be” an animal? How are animals constructed in culture? How do these constructs affect social ontologies? How has philosophy contributed to a certain understanding of animal being, and how might it contribute differently? How can we engage in politics, much less in something called “democracy,” in a social field which consists of multiple species? Spring semester.