The Ethics of Life and Death: Humans, Animals and the Environment (Level 5)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Professor Hallvard Lillehammer
• Assessment: a 1000-word essay (40%) and 1500-word essay (60%)

In this module we introduce you to some of the most important ethical questions currently faced by human beings in our relation to each other, to non-human animals and to the rest of the natural world:

• How should we think about the ethics of bringing human beings into existence?
• Is it our duty, or is it just wrong, to think that we should seek to bring into existence human beings with certain characteristics rather than others?
• What duties, if any, do we have towards future generations of human beings who either will, or will not, exist depending on what we currently do?
• Do these duties extend to non-human beings or other forms of sentient life?
• Under what conditions is it justified to end a human life, either for its own sake or for the sake of others?
• Do the same considerations apply to non-human animals?
• How should we think of our ethical relationship to the rest of nature, such as non-sentient species, artificial intelligence or ecosystems?

During the course of this module you will consider a sample of some of the most influential theories and arguments relating to the ethics of reproduction; health care; the ethics of human-animal relationships; vegetarianism and veganism; future generations; and the value of the environment, or deep ecology.

Indicative syllabus

• The ethics of procreation
• Antinatalism
• Duties to future generations
• Duties to non-human animals
• Vegetarianism and veganism
• Euthanasia
• Capital punishment
• The ethics of AI
• The value of the environment
• Deep ecology

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate detailed knowledge of different philosophical approaches to ethical questions that arise from our relationships with other human beings, with non-human animals, and with the environment
• demonstrate an awareness of different ideas, contexts and frameworks deployed by contributors to philosophical debates over applied and practical ethics, and recognise some of their strengths and weaknesses
• analyse and compare different philosophical theories of our rights and obligations toward future human beings, non- human animals and the natural world, and evaluate the outcomes
• select appropriate criteria to evaluate philosophical accounts of the ethics of reproduction, death and dying, health care and deep ecology.