How have the readings, writing, and research you conducted this semester developed your appreciation for and understanding of some of the ethical issues and dilemmas regarding human-animal relations?
The readings, writing, and research I have conducted in this class of the semester has opened a new world to me. Before this class, I was never introduced to the ethical and moral issues of the treatment of animals and was amazed at how complex the situation really is. For example, Tom Regan's essay "The Case for Animal Rights" discusses 'inherent value' and 'subjects-of-a-life' (two terms that were completely foreign to me before this class), "Those who satisfy the subject-of-a-life criterion themselves have a distinct kind of value -inherent value -and are not to be viewed or treated as mere receptacles" (22). Statement such as this made me think of what value and rights really mean and who or what is entitled to them. Before I have always though of animals as a lower species with lower rights. However, I now realized that this ideology is wrong and is defined as speciesism. In "Practical Ethics", Peter Singer defines speciesists as those who "give greater weight to the interests of members of their own species when there is a clash between their interests and the interests of those other species" (37). This is a new concept to me but I have come to understand it and recognize it in many human practices such as zoos and pets.
What writing skills have you acquired through your readings, writings, and research this semester?
This semester I have developed how to discuss ethical issues through my writing. I have learned to question all points I make in my paper and to not assume that the reader will believe the same things that I do. I have learned that counter arguments strengthen my argument. I know how to use the readings in conversation with my ideas and writing. This course has definitely advanced my persuasive abilities as a writer. My papers contain mature ethical debates that I have never thought of before.
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