Animals in a Posthuman World: A New Buddhist Ethics

HDS 3247 Subject & Catalog Number

This course will explore the grounds for compassion, ethical commitment, and kinds of human self-restraint in light of an increasing appreciation for the value of animal life. The course will work through new adaptations of Buddhist attention and meditation techniques to elevate our affective connection with — and moral obligation to — our animal kin on planet Earth. This will entail close scrutiny of some amazing animal videos in class, as well as outdoor attention assignments. Also contributing to our deliberations will be robust discussion of human-animal living conditions and human exploitation of animal resources.   All along the way, we will reflect on readings in Western philosophical ethics, critical theory, and anthropology as they intersect, or not, with the Buddhist metaphysics of interdependence and the phenomenology of compassion.