STS 379
Animals and Society Fall 2023
Division II
Cross-listed ENVI 380
This is not the current course catalog

How do humans and animals shape each other’s lives? People encounter animals in farms, laboratories, zoos, wildernesses, and backyards, on purpose and by chance. They treat animals as family members, entertainment, food, vectors of disease, and objects of scientific wonder. Drawing on the works of biologists, philosophers, and feminist science and technology studies scholars, this seminar will examine our relationships with animals and help clarify our responsibilities to them. We will ask: What are the social and environmental consequences of consuming animals? Should humans swim with dolphins, feed manatees, use gene-editing to create species that can survive climate change? Should moral standing depend upon the ability to communicate or the ability to experience emotions like grief and joy? What can animal models tell us about human health and society, and when is animal otherness too large a gap to bridge? What might human violence toward animals tell us about sexism, racism, or capitalism, and what will human-animal relationships look like in the future?