This project is funded by the Ethics and Values in Science, Engineering and Technology component of the Science and Society Program. The goal of the project is to produce a book that critically assesses the extent to which the ethical theorist R.M. Hare's theory supports Peter Singer's relatively radical conclusions about animal ethics. In order to do so, it is necessary first to determine how and why a critical distinction in Singer's work (between "persons" and "the merely sentient") fits into Hare's theory, something that Hare himself does not discuss. The book produced in this project will also offer some improvements and extensions of Hare's theory that clarify its application to animals, including points about the so-called "non-replaceability" of persons, what the author of this book calls "near-personhood," how "intuitive level rules" are internalized and applied, Hare's claim that moral judgments are "prescriptive," and a related argument that Hare could have used about evolution, language, and morality. With these more philosophical details worked out, however, the implications of Harean utilitarianism for our treatment of animals will still hinge on answers to empirical questions, including a range of questions about various animals' sentience and cognitive abilities. This book will be of interest to both philosophers and scientists insofar as it will provide a detailed overview of how various kinds of scientific research relate to the application of Harean utilitarianism. These areas of research include pain, desires and planning for the future, language use, mirror self-recognition, episodic memory and autonoetic consciousness, and use of "a theory of mind." The critical assessment of Singer's application of Harean utilitarianism offered in this book will be of interest to anyone concerned about the hot-button issues of animal welfare and animal rights, because Singer's views on animal ethics are so widely discussed in non-academic settings. The book project will also impact the teaching of science at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and also will indirectly affect the teaching of science insofar as students will go on to teach about animal ethics and science in both formal school settings and informal settings in zoos and clinical veterinary medicine.
