Coetzee’s book, Elizabeth Costello, makes a good (or bad) argument against philosophy/ethics on the question of how non-human animals ought to be understood and treated

 

Questions for Final Paper on

  1. M Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals

 

Assignment: Write a 5-page essay, double-spaced, on the topic below. Make sure you cite from the texts to substantiate your analysis of these issues. In addition to J.M. Coetzee’s text, you need to read a response to it by Peter Singer. The rubric for grading your paper is based on the following format:

 

  1. Clarity of your position in the paper: state your position/argument in the opening paragraph of the paper and state how you will be explaining or defending it — e.g. “In this essay I argue that the main character in Coetzee’s book, Elizabeth Costello, makes a good (or bad) argument against philosophy/ethics on the question of how non-human animals ought to be understood and treated. I begin by showing that her argument has the utilitarian motif of the need to see evolutionary continuity between human and non-human animals, favoring seeing similarities of kind between the two species. I then use Peter Singer’s response to her argument to argue that she is correct (or mistaken) in making reason the problem in philosophy’s reflections on the lives of non-human animals.
  2. Strength of argument: make sure you create a coherent thread in the essay by linking one paragraph with the next so that the reader can find continuity in the paper. For example, if you agree with her argument against philosophy, make sure to mention her critiques of the philosophers Aristotle, Kant, and others. Although she does not mention Peter Singer in the book, how do you think she would criticize him? If you disagree with her argument, perhaps you can use Singer to criticize her. Also, there is an analogy that she makes in the book between how humans treat non-human animals and how the Nazis treated Jews. Do you agree? How does her analogy fit in your argument?
  3. Reliance on the text for backing up your position/argument: make sure you cite from the text to substantiate your analysis and criticism. For example, when you discuss the analogy with the Holocaust, you would need to cite the novelist (Abraham Stern) who responds to her by saying the analogy is wrong, referencing the page numbers from the book.
  4. Linking the analysis to some of the theories of ethics/material you studied in this class. For example, when she criticizes Kant, how is this related to the ethics of duty? When she criticizes Aristotle, how is this related to the ethics of virtue? Is she a full utilitarian or does she argue that since she wears leather shoes and carries a leather purse, she still suffers from a sickness of the soul? Is the fact that she tries to save her soul, as she puts it, makes her a non-utilitarian?

 

 

 

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