Duties to Non-Human Animals (Testing) Flashcards
How many scientific procuedures involving animals were completed in Britain?
40 million
Of the 40 million scientific procedures involving animals, how many were experimental procedures?
1.73 million
What are the five grades of severity concerning experimentation?
- Sub-threshold;
- Non-recovery;
- Mild;
- Moderate;
- Severe
What is clear from the thresholds?
Oftentimes animal experiments are harmful for the animals involved
What do animals lack in the testing process?
Consent
Quote the Royal Society’s statement on the use of animals in research.
‘From antibiotics and insulin to blood transfusions and treatments for cancer or HIV, virtually every medical achievement in the past century has depended directly or indirectly on research using animals, including veterinary medicine.’
What are the two premises and conclusion for the argument from benefit?
P1: Non-consensual experiments on non-human animals allow us to secure important benefits.
P2: If experiments on non-human animals allow us to secure important benefits, then those experiments are morally permissible (even when they are non-consensual).
C: Therefore, non-consensual experiments on non-human animals are morally permissible.
What can the argument from benefit be appealed to in support of?
The common assumption
What is the common assumption?
While non-consensual research on human subjects is not morally acceptable, non-consensual research on animals can be acceptable when there is the prospect of significant benefits
What is the amended argument from benefit?
P1: Non-consensual experiments on human beings allow us to secure important benefits.
P2: If experiments on human beings allow us to secure important benefits, then those experiments are morally permissible (even when they are non-consensual)
C: Therefore, non-consensual experiments on human beings are morally permissible.
How does Frey challenge the argument from benefit?
‘Any reliance upon the argument from benefit… has to be accompanied by a further argument establishing that while we may use animals as a means to the ends of scientific and medical inquiry, we may not use humans to these ends
If we use the argument from benefit to support the common assumption, what do we need to do?
Explain how we can resist the amended argument from benefit
If we reject the argument from benefit, what does this do?
Push us away from the common assumption and towards abolitionism
If we accept the argument from benefit, we may also be committed to what?
Accepting the amended argument from benefit, which pushes us towards the extreme pro-research position
What is the problem with making the distinction between non-human animals and human animals?
That making a moral distinction purely on the grounds of species membership is to be guilty of ‘speciesism’.
What is Frey’s problem with considering other characteristics, such as autonomy, intelligence, and quality of life?
‘Humans will be found who (1) lack the characteristic altogether, (2) lack it to a degree such that they are not protected from being used in experiments, or (3) lack it to a degree such that some animals have it to a greater degree.’
What does Frey ultimately conclude is the relevant characteristic for deciding which subjects to use for the purposes of research?
Quality of life
Why does Frey believe that the relevant characteristic for deciding which subjects to use for research is quality of life?
Because value is determined by quality of that life
Why does value being determined by quality of life not ensure that human lives will always be of more value than animal lives?
‘When a human life is of lower quality than an animal life, it will not be right to use the animal rather than the human.’
What does being unable to separate the argument from benefit and amended argument from benefit lead Frey to do?
Endorse the extreme pro-research position
Which other philosopher went through similar considerations?
Lori Gruen (2011)
What position did Lori Gruen endorse
Abolitionism
What may the differing positions on the common assumption show?
That the common assumption is not a stable position
Which philosopher appeal to a principle of justice?
Chong Un Choe-Smith
What does Choe-Smith say about a principle of justice?
‘As a response to historical injustices in the mid-twentieth century, including the use of victims imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps and the selection of disadvantaged, rural black men in Tuskegee, Alabama, the Belmont report included a principle of justice to address the unfair and unequal distribution of the burdens and benefits of research.’
What does Choe-Smith point out concerning the principle of justice
That animals are assigned disproportionate levels of the burdens of research, while typically having no prospect of receiving corresponding benefits
How could one respond to the principle of justice
To deny that the principle of justice applies to non-human animals
Who is Singer in discussion with when he agrees on the experimentation of animals?
Professor Tipu Aziz
What did Professor Tipu Aziz experiment on and for?
Tipu Aziz studied on primates for parkinsons
How many monkeys were used, and how many humans did this research assist?
100 primates and 40,000 people
Why does Singer justify this experiment?
That there was no other way of discovering this knowledge
What does Singer say his position on testing is?
‘My position has always bee that whether an act is right or wrong depends on its consequences. I do insist, however, that the interests of animals count among those consequences, and that we cannot justify speciesism’
What does Singer define speciesism as?
‘As giving less weight to the interests of nonhuman animals than we give to the similar interests of human beings’
What does Singer say must necessitate an experiment?
That it is also ‘justifiable […] to carry out the experiment on human beings at a similar mental level’
