Final Exam

Answers will be graded on thoroughness and use of specific examples from the course.

Short-Answer Questions (5 points each)

What is the Golden Rule, and how can it be applied in your life and in your relationships with animals?

What is empathy? What can you do to promote empathy for animals among children? Why is this important and what benefits accrue to society as a whole from creating kind kids?

The Bible and the Christian faith support the ethical treatment of animals. In the Bible, James writes, "Faith without works is dead." What does this mean to you?

Give two examples from the Stimulus Response video illustrating how the behavioral needs of animals are not met when they are forced to live in pens and cages.

In the film Stimulus Response,viewers see nonhuman animals demonstrate four types of learned responses, including: a) chickens who observe other chickens eating out of red containers and subsequently choose to forage for food in red containers as well and b) chickens who maneuver through an obstacle course in order to reach hay so that they can nest. Why are these behaviors significant, and what do they tell us about chickens' needs and abilities?

How did the pigs in Stimulus Response react when they entered the slaughterhouse in which another pig had urinated out of fear? What other fears do animals experience?

List five or more emotions that you observed on dogs' faces in the "Case Study: Dogs" presentation. Why is it important to address animals' emotional as well as physical needs? Name some of the inhumane conditions that dogs are kept in. What can be done to improve the well-being of dogs in such situations?

A study by Northeastern University and the Massachusetts SPCA found that people who abuse animals are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against humans than people who don't abuse animals. Why is that the case?

Elephants will risk their lives and work for hours to save a baby elephant from drowning in the mud. A ewe whose lamb has been taken from her will search and call anxiously. These examples from the course illustrate nonhuman animals' capacity for emotion. Choose two of the following emotions, and for each, describe a story that illustrates the emotion in nonhuman animals: love, joy, sadness, loneliness, loyalty, and bravery. You may draw from personal experience or use other examples from the course.

Describe what a dog let into a warm home on a cold night might feel. In contrast, describe what a dog left outside, chained on a cold night, might feel.

Describe two heroic or selfless actions by animals and discuss what these actions tell us about animals' mental and emotional abilities.

Essay (15 points each)

Write a response to each of the following questions (a one- to two-page response per question is suggested):

Dr. Albert Schweitzer wrote, "In the past we have tried to make a distinction between animals [who] we acknowledge have some value and others [who], having none, can be liquidated when we wish." Please discuss this statement, providing at least one example from modern times. Schweitzer went on to say, "This standard must be abandoned. Everything that lives has value simply as a living thing, as one of the manifestations of the mystery that is life" and "Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." How does this philosophy relate to our relationships with animals?

In "Am I Blue?" Alice Walker writes: "One day, after a visit to the city, I went out to give Blue some apples. He stood waiting, or so I thought, though not beneath the tree. When I shook the tree and jumped back from the shower of apples, he made no move. I carried some over to him. He managed to half-crunch one. The rest he let fall to the ground. I dreaded looking into his eyes—because I had of course noticed that Brown, his partner, had gone—but I did look. If I had been born into slavery, and my partner had been sold or killed, my eyes would have looked like that. The children next door explained that Blue’s partner had been 'put with him,' … so that they could mate and she conceive. Since that was accomplished, she had been taken back by her owner, who lived somewhere else." Discuss what this story tells us about emotion in nonhuman animals, how human actions affect nonhuman animals, and the importance of both.

What has the “Developing Empathy for Animals” basic course taught you? What are some specific areas in your life into which you can incorporate compassionate decision-making and other lessons from the course?