The course follows a 4-step line of inquiry:

1. A survey of the very complex and not entirely homogeneous history of Western philosophical views on animals and animality, from Plato to Tom Regan and Luc Ferry.

2. A concentration on the (what is called from the side of Analytic Philosophy) the "Animal Rights debate" in ethical theory, focusing on "extension arguments" -- the extension and adaptation of humanistic moral theoretical frameworks (Social Contact theory, Deontology, Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics, Capability Theory) -- to non-human animals;

3. A critical examination of these extension projects;

4. Deconstructive Ethics and Post-Structuralist Ethics on (what is called, from Continental Philosophy) the "Question of the Animal".