Animal Legal Philosophy

Animal Legal Philosophy - Professor Raj Reddy

  • Course Number: LAW-303
  • Course Type: Foundational
  • Credits: 2
  • Enrollment Limit: Determined by the Registrar
  • Description: Questions regarding our relationship with and the moral status of nonhuman animals date back to the roots of early civilization and have increasingly raised both ethical and pragmatic inquiries into our legal duties, if any, toward them. In light of this growing attention being paid to the legal status of animals, the objectives of this course are two-fold: first, to trace the development of Western animal legal philosophy from its roots in ancient Greek and Judaic paradigms to modern jurists; second, to interrogate if and how the law should go beyond classifying animals as merely objects of protections by recognizing them as subjects of rights, or “legal persons,” a status that would further blur the line between human and nonhuman animal kind. Notably, this course will put these questions into larger conversations concerning race, religion, gender, and personhood arguments for other entities, such as nature, corporations, fetuses, deities, and otherwise. As such, students in this course should be prepared to engage both critically and thoughtfully with potentially sensitive issues.
  • Prerequisite: none
  • Evaluation Method: Participation, presentation, final paper
  • Capstone: Yes
  • WIE: Yes