Aims

- to discuss the contributions of ethology and comparative psychology to our thinking about the ecological relationships between human beings and their environments, designed to use domestic animals.

Main themes

The course will put forward the scientific and ethical problems raised by research on pet animals and on their life conditions in captivity. The following themes will be tackled:
- basic concepts of behavioural ecology and of the ethics of relationships between man and animal.
- indicators of stress, of suffering and of well-being in animals.
- beneficial effects of animals for handicapped persons; relevance of the studies on animal learning to behavioural therapies.
- ethical problems of experiments on laboratory animals (in comparative psychology and in biomedical research).
- animal protection and legal status of the domesticated species.

Content and teaching methods

- to discuss the contributions of ethology and comparative psychology to our thinking about the ecological relationships between human beings and their environments designed to use domestic animals.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

The content of the course can change each year.

Other credits in programs