Animal Ethics: Philosophy Lesson for Students Aged 8-16 [P4C, Philosophy for Children, Animals]

This fun philosophy lesson is focused on ‘Animal Ethics’: the branch of ethics which examines human-animal relationships, the moral consideration of animals and how nonhuman animals ought to be treated. Animal ethics explores topics such as animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, speciesism, animal cognition, wildlife conservation, wild animal suffering, the moral status of nonhuman animals, the concept of nonhuman personhood, human exceptionalism, the history of animal use, and theories of justice.

This philosophy session is of interest to teachers of all school subjects who are hoping to explore ethics with young learners; since it explores moral issues in depth the resource is a great contribution to your schools SMSC remit. This session explores topics such as:

• Our moral duties towards animals
• The ethics of eating meat
• Animal testing
• Blood-sports and
• Utilitarian theories of animal ethics

The big question asked in this session is “When (if ever) is it morally acceptable to cause an animal to suffer?”. Using a variety of engaging activities students will discuss and debate a wide range of other philosophical and ethical questions such as:

• What does the term ‘animal rights’ mean?
• To what extent is it morally wrong to eat animals such as cats and dogs?
• To what extent is it morally wrong to test cosmetics on animals? and
• To what extent is hunting wild animals a moral hobby?

Students will also analyse and evaluate an eclectic mix of philosophical claims such as:

• “Humans are inherently superior & valuable to all other animals”
• “Animal testing is morally acceptable if the animals are being used to create new medicines”
• “All species go extinct eventually: protecting endangered species is a waste of time" and
• “An insect does not have an experience of living and cannot feel pain”

This session uses our unique format for philosophy teaching resources and features an integrated menu that allows teachers to select from a variety of starter, main, plenary, assessment and end-of-lesson reflection activities. With a massive selection of activities designed to trigger philosophical discussions, debates and reflections: you can re-use the resource numerous times with the same group.

This resource is suitable for students aged 8-16; due to the flexible nature of the sessions design it can be used for multiple hour-long sessions or as a short stimulating tutor-group activity.

The file is a PowerPoint Show: no planning or preparation is required, just run the file and the intuitive menu system will make delivering a powerful philosophy session very easy!