Module Information
Module Identifier
RS30410
Module Title
Animal Bioethics
Academic Year
2013/2014
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Other Staff
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 2 x 1 hour lectures per week |
| Seminars / Tutorials | 3 x 3 hour seminars during semester |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | ETHICAL MATRIX PROJECT | 50% |
| Semester Exam | 2 Hours WRITTEN EXAMINATION | 50% |
| Supplementary Exam | 2 Hours WRITTEN EXAMINATION | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Discuss the remit of bioethics, its definitions, and its historical perspective, specifically with regard to animals.
2. Discuss developments in ethical theory
3. Apply the ethical matrix to examples in animal science
4. Discuss the ethical status of different forms of animal farming, animal experimentation, animal biotechnologies and
animal domestication
Brief description
The module will consider the nature of bioethics and the history of attitudes and philosophies regarding wild and domesticated animals. It will also consider the ethical and legal position of animals as experimental models, as providers of meat and other animal products, and as providers of companionship.
Content
- Defining bioethics and exploring the source of human ethics
- Ethical theory: Utilitarianism, Deontology, Virtue theory and others
- The theory and application of the ethical matrix as a framework for ethical analysis
- The history of human attitudes to animals ? monism vs dualism
- The ethics of animal production
- The ethics of animal experimentation, including a consideration of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986.
- The ethics of advances in biotechnology
- The ethics of animal domestication
- The application of the principles of animal bioethics into wider areas
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Communication | Exam, Ethical Matrix Project |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Exam, Ethical Matrix Project |
| Information Technology | Ethical Matrix Project |
| Research skills | Ethical Matrix Project |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6