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tags: teach,CCHU9005
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# CCHU9005 Food & Values: course outline
**First semester 2022-2023**
URL of this document: https://hackmd.io/@joelau/cchu9005
Version 1.55 (26 Nov; Check this page regularly for updates.)
## Course description
Food is a fundamental aspect of human existence. This course focuses on philosophical issues about food and its relation to ethics, objectivity, and values. Topics include moral issues related to animal rights, world hunger, genetic engineering, and public health policies about food and drugs. We shall also discuss whether food can be a form of art, and whether there are objective standards about taste. This course aims to help students develop new perspectives in thinking critically about what we normally take for granted in our daily life.
## Learning outcomes
- Identify the crucial factors in moral evaluation and apply such knowledge in analyzing selected ethical problems related to food.
- Compare and contrast the various absolutist, relativist, & contextualist positions about morality & values.
- Critically examine the nature of subjectivity in aesthetic and taste preferences and the possibility of objective evaluative standards.
## General information
- Lecturer: Dr. Joe Y.F. Lau, Dept of Philosophy, HKU. Email for appointments: [jyflau@hku.hk](jyflau@hku.hk)
- Office: Room 10.13, 10/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus.
- Contact your tutor first if you have questions about course administration.
- Use HKU Moodle for discussion about course content.
- Tutors: Tim Li (hkutimli@gmail.com); Frank Chong (yunchak@hku.hk); David Villena (dvillena@hku.hk)
- Course website on HKU Moodle: https://moodle.hku.hk/
- Registration: Places in this course are assigned by computer lottery. Please *do not* email the lecturer if you are unable to secure a place.
## Lectures and tutorials
* Lectures: Wed 12:30-14:20. [Grand Hall, Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre](https://muse.hku.hk/grand-hall/).
* HKU requires F2F lectures this semester. There will be no streaming / video recording of lectures, unless there is a change in official policy.
* Slides for each topic will be posted to Moodle before each lecture.
* Tutorial attendance is compulsory. Tutorial signup period: Sept 8th (Thur) 10am – Sept 16th (Fri) 10am. Details on Moodle.
* Please contact Tim Li if you have questions about tutorial arrangements.
## If you have COVID ...
* Follow HKU's protocols and report to the university: https://covid19.hku.hk/control/protocols
* If you cannot attend the lecture, there is no need to inform the teacher or your tutor. Attendance is not mandatory.
* If you cannot attend any tutorial, **do** inform your tutor.
* Since there is no recording of lectures, make sure you study the required and recommended readings and go through the slides.
* Email your tutor / lecturer if you still have questions about the topic. You are strongly encouraged to post your questions to the Moodle course forum.
## Schedule and readings
There is no course text. Required readings are marked ♥ below, but you are recommended to read through the whole list. Please finish the required readings for a lecture before attending.
1. [7 Sept] Introduction – What is the philosophy of food?
- ♥ Borghini, Andrea. (2020, February 11). Philosophy of Food. https://www.thoughtco.com/philosophy-of-food-2670489
- ♥ Tutorials [A01] to [A04] from <https://philosophy.hku.hk/think/arg>. (Go through the whole module if you have time.)
- Excerpt from David M. Kaplan (2012). *The Philosophy of Food*. University of California Press. https://www.food.unt.edu/philfood/
- Thomas Metcalf (2020) What is philosophy? https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2020/10/10/philosophy/
- Asssignment: Complete the online survey. See assessment below.
2. [14 Sept] Moral objectivity – Is morality objective, absolute, or relative?
- ♥ <https://tinyurl.com/yhwfq26b> Start from “What is a moral argument” and read up to the section titled “Shared moral values make moral argumentation possible”.
- ♥ Tutorials [U01, U03, U04, U05] from <https://philosophy.hku.hk/think/value/>
3. [21 Sept] Meat (part 1) – Is eating meat wrong? Is meat necessary for survival or health?
- ♥ Dan Lowe (2016). Common Arguments for the Moral Acceptability of Eating Meat: A Discussion for Students. *Between the Species*, 19(1), 172–192. PDF: <https://tinyurl.com/yx5v69ag>
- ♥ *Dominion* is a documentary showing what life is really like for most farm animals, using footage from drones and secret cameras. Watch online: https://www.dominionmovement.com/watch
- Article from Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/19/why-you-should-go-animal-free-arguments-in-favour-of-meat-eating-debunked-plant-based
- Hampton, J. O., Hyndman, T. H., Allen, B. L., & Fischer, B. (2021). Animal harms and food production: Informing ethical choices. Animals, 11(5), 1225. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051225
4. [28 Sept] Meat (part 2) – Do animals have rights? Why eat chickens but not dogs?
- ♥ https://philosophy.hku.hk/food/animals.html
- ♥ Regan, T. (1986). A case for animal rights. In M.W. Fox & L.D. Mickley (Eds.). *Advances in Animal Welfare Science 1986/87*. The Humane Society of the United States. https://animalstudiesrepository.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=acwp_awap
- https://theconversation.com/what-philosophers-have-to-say-about-eating-meat-100444
- BBC Ethics Guide on Animal Ethics: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/. All the articles under "Rights and Ethics" are relevant.
5. [5 Oct] Hunger – Is it wrong to eat an expensive meal when people are dying from starvation? Must I help?
- ♥ Peter Singer (1972). Famine, Affluence, and Morality. *Philosophy and Public Affairs*, 1(3), 229–243. PDF: <https://tinyurl.com/yk3aszjb>
- ♥ Reflections on Singer by Kate Manne: https://tinyurl.com/24yvmz4r
- Kuper, Andrew. (2002). More Than Charity: Cosmopolitan Alternatives to the "Singer Solution". *Ethics and International Affairs*, 16(1), 107-128. You can read Singer's reply and their further exchanges in the same issue.
- World hunger during COVID: https://tinyurl.com/huhpmwcf
- A useful summary of the arguments in Singer's article: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-231-ethics-fall-2009/lecture-notes/MIT24_231F09_lec21.pdf (lecture handout #21)
- https://time.com/6204627/effective-altruism-longtermism-william-macaskill-interview/
6. [19 Oct] Drugs – Why are coffee and wine legal but not drugs? What about addictive and unhealthy junk food?
- ♥ Smith, Paul. (2002). Drugs, Morality and the Law. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 19(3), 233-244. http://hettingern.people.cofc.edu/Introduction_to_Philosophy_Fall_09/drugs_morality_&_law.pdf
- ♥ Book review of David A. Kessler (2009). *The End of Overeating*. Rodale Books. URL: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2752095>
- ♥ Sean Illing. (2020). Capitalism is turning us into addicts. *Vox*. URL: <https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/10/17/18647521/capitalism-age-of-addiction-phone-david-courtwright>
- Video: Putting UK Drug Policy into Focus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj_5JkgxmRU
- Harry G Levine. (2009). Review of "The Globalisation Of Addiction: A Study In Poverty Of The Spirit" by Bruce K. Alexander. Harm Reduction Journal, 6(12). https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7517-6-12
7. [26 Oct] GM food – Will genetic engineering and technology save the Earth, or destroy it?
- ♥ https://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-biotechnology/science-and-history-gmos-and-other-food-modification-processes
- ♥ Gatew, H., & Mengistu, K. (2019). Genetically modified foods (GMOs); a review of genetic engineering. J. Life Sci. Biomed, 9(6), 157-163. https://dx.doi.org/10.36380/scil.2019.jlsb25
- GMO vs Non-GMO: 5 Questions Answered. <https://www.healthline.com/health/head-to-head-gmo-debate>
- https://www.gmwatch.org/en/106-news/latest-news/20084-claims-that-supercharged-biotech-rice-yields-massively-more-grain-debunked
- Zhang, C., Wohlhueter, R., & Zhang, H. (2016). Genetically modified foods: A critical review of their promise and problems. Food Science and Human Wellness, 5(3), 116-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fshw.2016.04.002
- A short video about selective breeding: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B4LEssKSLs>, and another one on CRISPR technology: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKbrwPL3wXE>
8. [2 Nov] In-class movie: Cowspiracy. See https://www.cowspiracy.com. Movie available on Netflix. *** Cancelled due to weather ***
9. [9 Nov] Capitalism – Do we want a free market or a fair market? What is wrong with modern food production?
- ♥ Holt-Giménez, E. (2019). Capitalism, food, and social movements: The political economy of food system transformation. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(A), 23-35. https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/723/716
- Sustainable Food Trust (2017). *The Hidden Cost of UK Food*. https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Website-Version-The-Hidden-Cost-of-UK-Food_compressed.pdf
- Robert Albritton. (2010). Between obesity and hunger: the capitalist food industry. *Socialist Register 2010*, 46, 184-197. URL: <https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/6770/3923>
10. [16 Nov] Art – What makes something a work of art? Can food be art? Can it be great art?
- ♥ Elizabeth Telfer (2002). Food as Art. In Alex Neill, Aaron Ridley (eds.) *Arguing about Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates* (pp. 9-27). Psychology Press. Read the whole piece, but especially the last section "A Minor Art". Online at https://tinyurl.com/y5e8este, https://food.unt.edu/arguments/Telfer.pdf
- https://artsandculture.google.com/story/a-bitesize-history-of-food-in-art/9QJyZ-tyLu9GJQ
- Sharon Butler. (2017). A Brief History of Food as Art. *Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly*. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/food-art-cultural-travel-180961648/
- https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/is-food-art-experts-debate/
- Aaron Meskin (2013). The art of food. *The Philosophers’ Magazine*, 61, 81–86. https://philpapers.org/archive/MESTAO-3.pdf
11. [23 Nov] Taste – Is it wrong to put pineapple on pizza? Are there objective standards of taste, or is taste relative? (To be confirmed: A short talk about whisky tasting.)
- ♥ Todd, Cain. (2011). The Philosophy of Wine: A Case of Truth, Beauty, and Intoxication. McGill-Queen's University Press. You can "look inside" the book and read the introduction (pp.1-9) online. https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Wine-Truth-Beauty-Intoxication/dp/0773538380
- ♥ Levinson, Jerrold. (2002). Hume's Standard of Taste: The Real Problem. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 60(3), 227--238. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6245.00070 (Focus on sections I-III)
- Jesse Prinz (2006). Really Bad Taste. In Kieran, M., & Lopes, D. (eds). *Knowing Art: Essays in Aesthetics and Epistemology*. Springer. Download through HKU portal: <https://link-springer-com.eproxy.lib.hku.hk/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-1-4020-5265-1_7.pdf> You can read until the first paragraph of page 104.
- Smith, B. C. (2007). The objectivity of tastes and tasting. In Questions of Taste: the philosophy of wine. Oxford University Press. https://philpapers.org/rec/SMITOO-2
12. [30 Nov] ~~Food in philosophy - Do we live to eat or eat to live?~~
We shall be watching the movie Cowspiracy instead.
* ♥ Camps-Gaset, M., & Grau, S. (2011). Philosophy for the Body, Food for the Mind. Coolabah, (5), 83-101. http://www.ub.edu/dpfilsa/8campsgraucoola5.pdf
* ♥ https://aeon.co/ideas/is-there-any-real-distinction-between-high-and-low-pleasures
### Additional resources
Here are some books for further reading if you are interested:
* Alexandra Plakias. (2019). Thinking Through Food: A Philosophical Introduction. Broadview Press.
* Barnhill, A., Doggett, T., & Budolfson, M. (Eds.). (2018). The Oxford handbook of food ethics. Oxford University Press.
* Newby, P. K. (2018). Food and Nutrition: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press.
* 劉彥方 (2021) 《哲食之道》牛津大學出版社.
## Assessment
All individual assignments. More details will be provided on Moodle. Submission deadline is **before 5pm** on the day the assignment is due.
- You need to complete an online survey: https://forms.gle/mbCpb9hmJfEFMpaq6. Not graded, but 5% of your marks will be deducted if you fail to complete the survey. If you are already registered for the course, you should fill in the online form on or before Friday 9 Sept. Otherwise, complete the task within 3 days after your registration is approved.
- Tutorial participation (15%). 2 problem sets (15%, 20%), 1 essay (35%), 1 portfolio (15%).
- Due dates:
- Problem set #1: 26 Sept
- [Problem set #2](https://hackmd.io/@joelau/cchu9005_pb2): 24 Oct
- Final essay: ~~28 Nov~~ 5pm Wed 30 Nov 2022
- Portfolio: 5pm 5 Dec 2022 (see below)
- Arts Faculty grading guidelines: <http://arts.hku.hk/grade_expectations.pdf>
## Final essay
Essay topic: If we ban recreational drugs, we should also ban tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and artificial trans fat in food. Discuss and evaluate this claim carefully.
* Word limit: 1350-1400 words.
* Other general requirements same as problem set #2.
* You should discuss whether the five cases mentioned (drugs, tobacco, etc.) should all be treated in the same manner.
* You do not need to take a position on whether recreational drugs should be banned. But of course you can also state your position if you want.
* Make sure you present your reasoning and analysis carefully.
## Portfolio assignment
For your portfolio, you need to complete three tasks:
Task #1: Find a piece of news (published in 2022) related to one of the topics in this course. Write a short comment about your reaction (50-70 words). Attach a screenshot or the first page of that news report. The source (in English) can be a magazine or a newspaper, either in print or online. Include the URL if it is an online source.
Task #2: Write a report on one of the lectures on 16 Nov or 23 Nov (280-300 words). The report should include: (a) a summary of the main points discussed. (b) your reactions to some of these points. You can explain what you agree or disagree with, and why; whether you find any of the examples or claims particularly interesting or surprising; whether the discussion makes you think of some other related topics; any other reaction or observations that you might have.
Task #3: Write a report on either (a) the movie on 30 Nov, or (b) this interview with James Lovelock: https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/mar/01/scienceofclimatechange.climatechange Use the same format as task #2, including word limit.
Please include a word count for each entry. You do not need to cite any source, but if you do the reference list should not be included in the word count. Submit your work through Moodle.
**Replacing the portfolio with an activity**: You can choose to replace the portfolio with a class-related activity as announced on the course forum on Moodle. See the announcement for the options. You do not need prior approval if you choose this option. But make sure you are able to book and complete your activity in time.
If you choose this option, you just need to write one entry (280-300 words) describing your experience of the activity. It should include:
- Date, time, and place of the activity.
- Name of the contact person who supervised your activity. **Keep all correspondence and records in case we need to verify your participation.**
- The tasks and activities that you participated in.
- Whether you find the activity enjoyable, challenging or meaningful; whether any part of the experience left a deep impression on you.
- How your activity might relate to any of the topics discussed in the course.
- Any other thoughts, observations, or reflections.
If you choose this option, the deadline of submission is the same. But if you encounter any difficulty (eg. the activity can only be scheduled after the deadline), you may discuss with your tutor to ask for an extension. Note: (1) Obtain your tutor's approval for an extension *before* 5 Dec. (2) Provide some evidence to show that it is impossible to complete the activity earlier. (3) You should complete the activity and submit the report no later than 5pm 20 Dec. (4) No further extension will be given and you might lose marks if you fail to submit your report in time.