Can Non-Human Primates Be ‘Persons’ In an Ethically Relevant Sense

The formative exercise for this course is to draft a detailed essay plan in no more than 1000 words. This plan should outline your response to the following title question and your reasoning supporting this answer: “can non-human primates be ‘persons’ in an ethically relevant sense?” you will not be later asked to a full-length essay under this title. your summative essay will be on a different topic. your plan should not exceed 1000 words, this total excludes footnotes and bibliography. this plan must contain: the given title (as above) – do not adjust or paraphrase this. headings and, if you wish, subheadings with a clear answer to the title question.

A clear answer need not be dogmatic, it could be conditional or nuanced. your reasons and justifications for arriving at this answer. references for all citations. you may use any recognized academic footnote or in-text citation format as long as you use it appropriately and consistently throughout the assignment (be aware that Harvard referencing will use up your word limit while footnote references do not). please do not use end notes. irrespective of what citation style you use, your work must include a bibliography containing all the sources you cite. it is perfectly okay to use short sections and bullet points as befits an essay plan, but please write in whole sentences, not note form, and inappropriate scholarly English. some other points to consider: your response to the title question should be based upon the research you have conducted on the topic, which should extend beyond seminar reading lists, and demonstrate your own reflective and critical take on these sources. in defending your position, consider if it would strengthen your position to address any examples, objections and counter-arguments to your own reasoning. in 1000 words this can only ever be an outline plan, however, though this may seem obvious your task is to summarise the steps and reasoning of your actual argument, not to state intentions to include these, e.g. you should summarise and explain what your conclusion is.