Animal experimentation and ethics?

Question

What philisophical ethics can be applied to animal experimentation if you were arguing against?

Answer 1

How ignorant man must be to think that the quality and comfort of his life exceeds that of any other living creature we share this planet with. Are we that selfish to think that because we can communicate and think that our lives are worth more than that of other living creatures that, by the way, also communicate and think?

Its wrong because we judge everything based on our perspective and sense of worth!!

How's that?

PS: Just read actormyk's response; right on!! Already happened, remember Hitler anyone!!

Answer 2

Con animal experimentation: is the idea that animals have a "soul".  Hence if they do, and they are sentient beings as a result: hence it is wrong for us to harm them physically or psychologically for our "scientific experimentation".  Further, Capital punishment would also be unethical.  Since it is an ethical argument against state sanctioned  murder.

Answer 3

When we make ethical considerations we do so on the basis of commonality.  What do animals and humans have in common?

Well, many things, and first and foremost, it is apparent that we both experience suffering.  An animal can obviously be put into suffering just the same as a human.  

Because we can identify within ourselves that we have a right to exist and pursue a life free from suffering, it follows that an animal also has a right to exist, and pursue life free from suffering.

It is only when we focus on the differences between ourselves and animals that we are able to rationalize putting them into suffering.

Answer 4

You would have to argue that animals feel pain, have consciousness, intelligence to whatever degree, and other methods of experimentation can provide the same results.

Experimentations on the great apes has been outlawed, but not on lesser apes (baboons, macaques, monkeys, etc).  And dogs have been determined to have an I.Q. of 4, and possess a sense of humor.

Answer 5

You can use the argument that animals seem to feel emotions, and experience pain and happiness and comfort, much as humans do.

-John

Answer 6

Try this one on for size; I use this argument against automatically spaying and neutering pets.

What if we were NOT the top of the food chain?  We ARE, but what if something came along that was bigger and smarter and stronger than us and from time to time it reached down and grabbed a handful of us and smeared stuff across our skin just to see if we'd break out or die from it?  What if they dictated that there were already too many of us so we should be neutered before having the chance to reproduce?  Being a lab rat doesn't sound like all that much fun now, does it?