Animal and society
Questions
Margo DeMello, Animal and society ( Columbia University Press, 2012) chapter 15
- This is only a very brief summary of some of the religious connotations of different animals.Pick one example from anywhere in the chapter and ask a question about it’s meaning or how it fits into that culture’s tradition.
What does the Jade rabbit represent in Buddhism as a religion? The Jade Rabbit represents legendry and heart of kindness in Buddhism as a religion. The Jade Rabbit has been considered as a popular legend for centuries. The animal has significantly defined the Buddhist culture’s tradition. The legendary story of the Jade Rabbit has been story passed from generation to generation. The animal was also viewed as a solution to various plagues in society. For example, the Moon Rabbit could be consulted to save the society in case of different disasters such as pandemics. Many of the Buddha believers believed that Chang’e always sends the Moon Rabbit to earth to pay a visit to every family and save them from disease and return to the moon.
Margo DeMello, Animal and society ( Columbia University Press, 2012): Chapter 18 DeMello – the Moral status of animals
- Pick one of the main philosophical approaches that DeMello traces in this chapter and explain how it applies to a different case that we have read about. Remember that each of us has our own moral approach to these questions, and we even frequently contradict ourselves! So don’t cast your argument in terms of judgment, but in terms of how to understand our attitudes towards wild animals, food animals, lab animals, companion animals, or some other category using examples from any of our readings.
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Possible approaches include utilitarianism, virtue ethics, ethical humanism, and phenomenology.
Ethical humanism
It is critical to find a balance and moral attitude towards food animals to assess our animal abuses as humans. From DeMello’s philosophical approach, it can be drawn that there is no need for humanity to excuse their misconduct in the name of survival. It would be essential to formulate regulations to protect the animals in the laboratories and areas of entertainment. It would be easier to rationalize the use of animals in society only if there is a belief that animals in food production have enhanced the lives of both humans and animals. To lead an ethical life is to honor and respect all life by viewing our intellect to manipulate the environment as a duty to protect animals, which is humanism.
Margo DeMello, Animal and society ( Columbia University Press, 2012) Chapter 13
- your assignment is to pick out DeMello’s thesis statement for this chapter, then provide at least one example that she uses to support it.You might not all agree on what her thesis statement is – it’s somewhat ambiguous – but this is a good way to try to find her point of view. Use specific quotes with page numbers, and keep in mind that her thesis might not be clearly stated in a single sentence. Feel free to paraphrase as well if you need to restate it.
Once you’ve responded to your assigned chapter, visit the threads for the other two chapters and reply to one of your classmates in each with a different example that either back up their proposed thesis statement or suggests an alternative.
Animal and Society by DeMello presents an argument and present evidence to support human oppression and animal suffering as the interlinked systems of exploitations. The statement is enhanced when the authors brought out the idea that a Native American woman may be defeated by her position of being a woman due to sexism and racism, the situation may be expressed in the animal exploitation and oppression in the society and can be passed from generation to generation.
Marina Belozerskaya, The Medici Giraffe (Little, Brown, and Co., 2006) Chapter 5
- This chapter is a marked departure from the last few.While Philadelphios, Pompey, Lorenzo Medici, and Hernan Cortes were all striving for power and political dominance of some sort, Rudolf II was born into about as much as any man in Europe could have. Belozerskaya probably assumes her readers have some knowledge of Rudolf, the late sixteenth century, and the Holy Roman Empire. Hence, she sort of sells short how UNBELIEVABLY IMPORTANT and influential Rudolf and his family, the Hapsburgs, were at the time.
Between his own role as ruler of the HRE, King of Croatia, Hungary, and Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria, and his uncle Philip II’s powers (and later his cousin Philip III’s) as King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Sicily, Duke of Milan, and Lord of the Netherlands, these two men were the figurehead leaders of almost all of Europe except for England, France, Poland, and Scandinavia. All of this, while the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation, was tearing nations apart with civil strife and violence.
And despite all of that, Rudolf really did devote most of his interest to the natural sciences! He’s a fascinating individual, and I’m looking forward to seeing how you react to all this short description of his life and his relationship with animals and the idea of the animal.
Rudolf tended to be an unsuccessful rule that made mistakes that led to unnecessary wars that lasted for more than thirty years. He appeared to be one of the intellectual devotees of occult arts. However, Rudolf loved animals such as Horses, and this became one of his hobbies and loved the companion of animals. Moreover, the ruler was kind of fascinating as he never supported some degree of evil. For instance, when his son had murdered a daughter of a local barber and disfigured her body, Rudolf condemned the act and judged his son to be incarcerated for life. The ruler also tolerated various religions such as Protestantism and Judaism even though he was raised in a Catholic background; this showed how tolerant, moral, and strict Rudolf was as a ruler.
Marina Belozerskaya, The Medici Giraffe (Little, Brown, and Co., 2006) Chapter 6
- This chapter really has it all: shipwrecks, scurvy, Australian wildlife being terribly cared for, the rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire. It’s a lot! But focus on the people and the animals. Both Josephine Bonaparte and Nicolas Baudin seem like dedicated caring individuals put in no-win situations, but still trying to do their best. Which parts of their stories jump out at you the most?
The story gets fascinating when it stated that the most significant fans of the sciences were mostly women. Some of the women invented the interest in science after the marriages failed and had to spend most of their time looking at the stars and comets through telescopes. The different stories tend to bring out how most of the women showed interest in collecting animals and plants as a way to feel some sense of independence. For example, Josphine Bonaparte found the natural sciences as an opportunity to take control of her own territory independent of her influential husband and have the power to control her own life.
- Mark Kurlansky,Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (Penguin, 1998) Cod – chapter 1-10
What does fishing mean to the modern people living in Newfoundland?
Currently, the value of fishery among the modern people living in Newfoundland has remanded almost the same. The fish are presently used as pets in the houses and homemade ponds. The fishery practices symbolize the older culture and are conducted as a way of revenue generations, and then earnings are shared among the small number of people. The end of the cod fishery has meant that many communities have been left without an economic base. Nonetheless, the modern people of Newfoundland tend to gain support from various administrations to encourage them to engage in the fishery, but the fishing plant has dramatically reduced.
- Peter Laufer, Forbidden Creatures (Lyons Press, 2010) – PRIMATE PROBLEMS
Whether macaques are smuggled from Asia or chimpanzees are bred for research or entertainment, great apes and smaller monkeys can destroy a home or cause a commotion, even while their “owners” might consider them part of the family. What does Laufer have to say about the ways in which people interact with and identify with primates? What can and should be done about those who disregard exotic animal laws or take advantage of loopholes in them?
The author feels that his fellow humans tend to be having an exotic relationship with an animal such as apes, which sometimes posses more threats and danger to life. For example, in the story, Peter gives an example of Sandra Herold, screaming that chimpanzee has killed her friend. The author feels that humans need to avoid certain indulgement with nature at all costs since they are very dangerous. Peter, in his story, thinks that those individuals who disregard the laws on exotic animal laws such as smuggling pets into the US need to be addressed regardless of who they might be. The individuals need to be locked for at least six months due to their selfish acts.
- Peter Laufer,Forbidden Creatures (Lyons Press, 2010) LAUFER
Depending on who you ask and how you count, there are probably anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 lions, tigers, cougars, cheetahs, leopards, servals, and other big cats in captivity across the United States. Laufer raises several questions ranging from animal welfare to black-market traditional medicine trafficking, to public safety related to how and why people are keeping these animals.
What do you think of the author’s arguments about the keeping of these cats, and what can and should be done about it? Is it, again, a question of the charismatic apex predator dominating the conversation, when we know that feral house cats also live difficult and often short lives while causing problems for native wildlife?
I tend to think that the author feels that domestication of the big cats in a more significant number in many countries such as the US has been the reason for the extinction of such animals since they cannot freely interact with nature to provide offspring. Moreover, Peter finds some of such a big cat to be dangerous to both the: owners” and others in society. For example, Chimp Travis was almost killing Roy Horn in public. Most individuals tend to find such exotic pet charismatic and a trend set by the rich and celebrities. Some also view such pets as a definition of old cultures and history.