Animal Ethics
Co-conveners:
Susan Kopp, DVM, Professor, Veterinary Technology Program, LaGuardia Community College (CUNY)
Joel Marks, Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, University of New Haven
Advisory Group:
Carol Pollard, Associate Director, Bioethics Center
David H. Smith, Director, Bioethics Center
Wendell Wallach, Chair, Technology & Ethics Study Group
This invited group of scholars was formed in response to two phenomena: the moral imperative to reassess the human treatment of other animals, and the theoretical challenge to give nonhuman animals their due in ethics. While many people have passionate opinions about animal ethics, they can be diametrically opposed: from seeing nonhuman animals as strictly subservient to human purposes, to conceptualizing them as full rights-bearing members of the moral community. Our group is dedicated to addressing the gamut of questions from all points of view. We meet monthly with special presenters, who are drawn from the same broad interdisciplinary spectrum as the group members themselves. In order to assure a research focus, participation in the group is limited to invitation by the Center director. Inquiries from faculty and graduate student scholars may be sent to bioethics.center@yale.edu.
Below is our list of speakers and their topics for the academic year 2011-2012:
SEPTEMBER 22 Victoria Braithwaite, Professor of Fisheries and Biology and Director of the Penn State Institute of the Neurosciences
Do Fish Feel Pain? A Current Look at Welfare Implications
OCTOBER 27 Hal Herzog, Professor of Psychology, Western Carolina University
Moral Inconsistency, Psychology, and Animal Ethics
DECEMBER 1 Charles C. Camosy, Assistant Professor of Theology, Fordham University
Ethics and Other Animals: Common Ground Amidst Difference
JANUARY 26 Dale Jamieson, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy and Director of Environmental Studies at New York University
Broadening Bioethics
FEBRUARY 23 Maxim Fetissenko, PhD, Boston-based scholar and consultant in communication
Beyond Morality: A New Rhetoric for the Animal Rights Movement
MARCH 22 Dr Gail Golab, Director of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Animal Welfare Division
Ethical Decisions Regarding Euthanasia in Veterinary Medicine
APRIL 19 Clare Palmer, Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University
Wild Animals, Ethics and Climate Change
POSTPONED: Dr. Pai-Yei Whung, Ph.D., Office of the Science Advisor, Environmental Protection Agency
Climate Change and Impact on Wildlife: A Topic Centered Discussion
Speakers and topics from previous years:
