Raja El Halwani

Non-human animals are, whether directly or indirectly, an important part of human lives, and human beings are an important part of animals’ lives. Human beings are always preoccupied with moral questions, and such questions have been recently finally brought to bear, with intense focus, on the lives of non-human animals and how human beings ought to relate to them. This course addresses some of these questions: (1) Do animals have moral standing? If yes, what does this mean and what is this moral standing? (For example, do they have rights or is it their sentience that matters?) (2) May we consume animals or their products? If no, why not? If yes, under what conditions? (3) Under what conditions may we experiment on animals? (4) What is it about animals’ nature, as opposed to plants’, that leads some to claim that it is wrong to kill or use them but not wrong to kill or use plants? (5) May we hunt animals in the wild? May we interfere in their lives to help lessen their difficult lives? (6) What are some debates surrounding the ethics of zoos and aquariums? Finally, (7) what are morally acceptable and unacceptable political activism on behalf of animals? Students will gain an understanding of important issues and theories in animal ethics; critically evaluate their own moral convictions; and learn to construct arguments and explain philosophical ideas. Among others, authors we read are Carol Adams, Carl Cohen, David DeGrazia, Rosalind Hursthouse, Alastair Norcross, Mark Rowlands, Tom Regan, Peter Singer, Roger Scruton, and Nick Zangwill. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.

The course examines conceptual and ethical questions surrounding sexual desire and behavior. The questions we address include: Is there such a thing as sexual perversion and what is it? Are prostitution, adultery, casual sex, promiscuity, and pornography morally wrong? If yes, why? What is objectification and is it wrong? What is sexual harassment and why is it wrong? Most of the readings are by contemporary authors, though some are by important historical figures, such as Immanuel Kant.

This course examines basic questions in the philosophy of art from the analytic tradition. Some major questions include: What is the definition of ?art?? What is the role of artistic intentions in interpreting and evaluating art? What connections are there between art, on the one hand, and beauty and aesthetics, on the other? What are aesthetic (artistic) principles and how do they differ from aesthetic (artistic) judgments? Are aesthetic or artistic judgment objective or subjective, and how do they connect to issues of taste? What connections are there between art and ethics? And what is the value of art? Philosophers that we study include Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and contemporary ones such as George Dickie, Jerrold Levinson, Monroe Beardsley, Kendall Walton, Noel Carroll, Berys Gaut, Marcia Muelder Eaton, Carolyn Korsmeyer, Paul C. Taylor, Richard Shusterman, Frank Sibley, and Malcolm Budd. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.

Philosophy of art is a crucial field in philosophy and one important for art students to take. In this second part of the course (registering for this course does not require you to have taken Part I), we explore two crucial and basic topics in contemporary philosophy of art. (1) How is art evaluated? Here, we discuss the issue of whether art evaluation is objective in some sense or whether it is ultimately subjective (whether it is a matter of taste). We also look into the interaction of art and ethics, especially whether ethical assessments of artworks affects their overall artistic value, and vice versa. In this regard, we consider artworks that traffic in unethical views and those accused of cultural appropriation. (2) What is the value of art? Here, we explore the bedrock question that should be at the forefront of every art student’s mind, which is the value of art. We distinguish between intrinsic and instrumental values of art, and we discuss whether art has any cognitive, moral, or historical value, and we discuss its relationship to providing aesthetic experience. Authors include Aristotle, Malcolm Budd, Noel Carroll, David Hume, Sherri Irvin, Eileen John, Plato, Richard Shusterman, Frank Sibley, and Jerome Stolnitz. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.