PHL283H5 Lecture Notes - Animal Consciousness, Consequentialism, Glasser'S Choice Theory
Document Summary
Test subjects for drugs, experimental procedures (surgeries, medical devices) ~ 115 million animals are used in laboratory experiments worldwide. Deprivations (ex. denial of space and conditions to express natural and social behaviors) 1: the benefits argument (considered by nobis, humans benefit from animal experimentation. If humans benefit from action x, then action x is morally permissible. P2 fails to explain why benefits to humans outweigh serious harms to animals: necessity argument. U of t claims that animals are used only in research when absolutely necessary": animal experimentation is necessary. If action x is necessary, then action x is morally permissible. We reject p2: an act being necessary to achieve a goal does not, by itself, show it is morally permissible. Moral constraints on human research: no alternatives argument, there are no alternatives to animal experimentation. 2: therefore, animal experimentation is morally permissible. If there are no alternatives to doing action x, then doing action x is morally permissible.
