This seminar examines the nexus connecting science, animals, and values in historical and recent contexts. To do this, we will explore how developments in science, technology, and medicine have reflected and shaped our views about the value and nature of non-human animals — i.e., their lives, histories, needs, mental capacities, habitats, and environments. We will examine how scientifically inflected understandings of non-human animals have been intimately connected to understandings of human beings as well as important social differences, for example at the levels of race, class, gender. We will consider how science has illuminated the profound impact of human activities on non-human animals in ways that have provoked deep concern. Students will gain competency in HPS methods and analysis, including effective thinking, reading, writing, research, and oral presentation skills.