First presentation for the course "Animals in Human Society: Psychological Perspectives" at the University of New York in Prague.

1. Tereza Vandrovcová

2.  1st week: Introduction to Animal Studies in
the Social Sciences
 2nd week: Animal Ethics
 3rd week: Psychological aspects of the
human-nonhuman relationships

3.  Do you remember some recent stories
relating to animals in mass media?

5.  What about your everyday life? Please, try to
recall some examples of animal presence in
our society

6. We pet them

7. We watch them

8. We eat
them and
their
products

9. We wear
them

10. We use them
in experiments

11. We visit them in
zoos, circuses etc.

12. We share our
homes with them
(unwillingly)

13. They work
for us

14. They act
in our movies
and fairy tales

15. They are
part of our
language

16. They are
part of our
religions

17. Art

18. Activism

19. ...they are
everywhere 

20.  Note down all occurences of animals (or their
symbols)
 Categorize them into groups

23. "Animals, whom we have made our slaves, we do not
like to consider our equal."
- Charles Darwin

24.  Human-animal studies / Anthrozoology
 Interactions between humans and animals
 Informed by natural science
◦ Better understanding
 Relatively new
 Multidisciplinary approach

25.  Similar to the development of Women's
studies or African-American studies
 Feminism, Civil Rights
 Moral philosophy:
◦ Peter Singer: Animal Liberation (1975)
◦ Tom Regan: The Case for Animal Rights (1983)

26.  Keith Thomas: Man and the Natural World: A
History of the Modern Sensibility (1983)
 James Serpell: In the Company of Animals (1986)
 Donna Haraway: Primate Visions: Gender, Race,
and Nature in the World of Modern Science
(1989)
 Aubrey Manning and James Serpell (eds): Animals
and Human Society: Changing Perspectives
(1994)
 Carol Adams and Josephine Donovan (eds):
Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical
Explorations (1994)
 Arnold Arluke and Clinton Sanders: Regarding
Animals (1996)

27.  Randall Lockwood and Frank Ascione (eds):
Cruelty to Animals and Interpersonal Violence
(1998)
 Anthony Podberscek, Elizabeth Paul, and James
Serpell: Companion Animals and Us: Exploring
the Relationships between People and Pets (2000)
 Steve Best and Anthony Nocella: Terrorists or
Freedom Fighters: Reflections on the Liberation
of Animals (2004)
 Lisa Kemmerer: In Search of Consistency: Ethics
and Animals (2006)
 Carol Gigliotti: Leonardo’s Choice: Genetic
Technologies and Animals (2009)

28.  Nature (real physical identity) vs. Culture
(human categories)
 How we classify them shapes how we see and
treat them (and vice versa)

30.  Biologically: Oryctalygus cuniculus

31.  How we use them – how we treat them
 Pets: shared home, name, interaction,
emotions...
 Animals we use: usually none of those

33.  Animals mean different things to different
people

36.  Or what is the difference?

37.  = Humans are not Animals

41.  Animals were created to serve human needs
 This distinction soon became universal
◦ Strengthened through social practice and philosophy
◦ René Descartes: animals are just mindless machines

42.  On the Origin of Species (1859)
 The Descent of Man (1871)
◦ Challenged the notion that humans are special
◦ Common ancestor
◦ No fundamental differences between humans and
the „higher animals“
◦ Continuum of mental and emotional capacities

43.  There is no radical divide between the
emotional and mental capacities of humans
and other animals
 Self-recognition, self-awareness,
communication, tool use, empathy, joking,
planning, understanding the past and the
future...