2. 1st week: Introduction to Animal Studies in
the Social Sciences
2nd week: Animal Ethics
3rd week: Psychological aspects of the
human-nonhuman relationships
3. Do you remember some recent stories
relating to animals in mass media?
4.
5. What about your everyday life? Please, try to
recall some examples of animal presence in
our society
20. Note down all occurences of animals (or their
symbols)
Categorize them into groups
21.
22.
23. "Animals, whom we have made our slaves, we do not
like to consider our equal."
- Charles Darwin
24. Human-animal studies / Anthrozoology
Interactions between humans and animals
Informed by natural science
◦ Better understanding
Relatively new
Multidisciplinary approach
25. Similar to the development of Women's
studies or African-American studies
Feminism, Civil Rights
Moral philosophy:
◦ Peter Singer: Animal Liberation (1975)
◦ Tom Regan: The Case for Animal Rights (1983)
26. Keith Thomas: Man and the Natural World: A
History of the Modern Sensibility (1983)
James Serpell: In the Company of Animals (1986)
Donna Haraway: Primate Visions: Gender, Race,
and Nature in the World of Modern Science
(1989)
Aubrey Manning and James Serpell (eds): Animals
and Human Society: Changing Perspectives
(1994)
Carol Adams and Josephine Donovan (eds):
Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical
Explorations (1994)
Arnold Arluke and Clinton Sanders: Regarding
Animals (1996)
27. Randall Lockwood and Frank Ascione (eds):
Cruelty to Animals and Interpersonal Violence
(1998)
Anthony Podberscek, Elizabeth Paul, and James
Serpell: Companion Animals and Us: Exploring
the Relationships between People and Pets (2000)
Steve Best and Anthony Nocella: Terrorists or
Freedom Fighters: Reflections on the Liberation
of Animals (2004)
Lisa Kemmerer: In Search of Consistency: Ethics
and Animals (2006)
Carol Gigliotti: Leonardo’s Choice: Genetic
Technologies and Animals (2009)
28. Nature (real physical identity) vs. Culture
(human categories)
How we classify them shapes how we see and
treat them (and vice versa)
41. Animals were created to serve human needs
This distinction soon became universal
◦ Strengthened through social practice and philosophy
◦ René Descartes: animals are just mindless machines
42. On the Origin of Species (1859)
The Descent of Man (1871)
◦ Challenged the notion that humans are special
◦ Common ancestor
◦ No fundamental differences between humans and
the „higher animals“
◦ Continuum of mental and emotional capacities
43. There is no radical divide between the
emotional and mental capacities of humans
and other animals
Self-recognition, self-awareness,
communication, tool use, empathy, joking,
planning, understanding the past and the
future...