“The question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being?” —Jeremy Bentham (1789)

“What one generation finds ridiculous, the next accepts; and the third shudders when it looks back on what the first did.” ― Peter Singer

Can reflection lead us to better understand our genuine values? What are the implications of these values? This week focuses on the scope of our compassion, and whether we can learn from the failures of past generations to better account for the interests of all morally relevant beings.

Required

Animal Welfare

• **Farm to Fridge** - Mercy to Animals (12 mins., video)
  • Content Warning: This film can be extremely disturbing and includes graphic footage of factory farming.
  • Alternatively, you can read Animal Welfare Cause Report | Founders Pledge (25 mins.)
• A Meat Eater’s Case for Veganism (12 mins on 2x speed)
• How the animal movement could do even more good (10 mins.)
• The possibility of an ongoing moral catastrophe (11 mins)
• Career Guide for Ending Factory Farming (Only read “Introduction”, “General Career Advice”, and “Non-career things anyone can do to help end factory farming”, ~10 mins.)
• What is Sentience? (3 mins.)
• The Case Against Speciesism - Centre for Reducing Suffering (4 mins.) — Note that anti-speciesism does not require that we value an animal of each species equally.

Expected Value Theory

• Expected Value (interactive quiz)
• Hits-based Giving (13 mins)

Exercise (10mins.)

(Please complete this before your session)