Morals are the standards of what is good and what is evil or what is right and wrong. Moral values govern the behaviour, decisions and feelings of an individual. When determining wether it is morally acceptable to experiment on animals, such views as Peter Singer’s speciesism, Rene Descartes’ Cartesian theory and Immanuel Kant’s Kantian ethics can be used to examine both sides of this question. Speciesism proposes that experimenters indicate a failure to give equal consideration to the interests of all beings, irrespective of species, concluding that in a speciesism view, experimenting on animals is not morally acceptable, the Cartesian view explains that animals are not conscious and therefore have no interests or well being that must be taken
…show more content…
The question can thus be determined to be a philosophical one as ethics is a branch of philosophy.
Peter Singer argues that the foremost issue in determining how we may treat animals and wether it is morally acceptable to experiment on them as opposed to humans, is to determine whether they suffer and if the pains of animals and humans deserve equal considerations. This view falls under the theory of speciesism, which is the assumption of human superiority leading to the exploitation of animals. Speciesism relates directly to the moral debate on animal experimentation because the experimenters frequently justify animal experimentation by asserting that the experiments lead to knowledge about humans; however, if this is so, the experimenters must …show more content…
For instance, where it is first explained that humans respond in accordance with reasoning about the world, but animals rather only respond to stimuli. However, it is known that not all humans possess the same level of reasoning, and in many humans the ability to reason is far less developed than in the animals that are being experimented on. For example, pigs are widely acknowledged by scientists and researchers to be more intelligent than three year-old children. Cows enjoy solving puzzles and can figure out how to open locked gates. Chickens are capable of mathematical reasoning and logic skills not seen in children younger than four years old. Secondly, Descartes’ theory further claims that only human beings can engage in the kind of speech that is spontaneous and expresses thoughts. Many young children and infants lack the ability to utilise speech to express their thoughts. By these two rules Descartes imposes, are young children who cannot use speech or have lesser mathematical capabilities and logic skills, are seen as ruled by their automata and thus it should pose no ethical wrong to experiment on
The question can thus be determined to be a philosophical one as ethics is a branch of philosophy.
Peter Singer argues that the foremost issue in determining how we may treat animals and wether it is morally acceptable to experiment on them as opposed to humans, is to determine whether they suffer and if the pains of animals and humans deserve equal considerations. This view falls under the theory of speciesism, which is the assumption of human superiority leading to the exploitation of animals. Speciesism relates directly to the moral debate on animal experimentation because the experimenters frequently justify animal experimentation by asserting that the experiments lead to knowledge about humans; however, if this is so, the experimenters must …show more content…
For instance, where it is first explained that humans respond in accordance with reasoning about the world, but animals rather only respond to stimuli. However, it is known that not all humans possess the same level of reasoning, and in many humans the ability to reason is far less developed than in the animals that are being experimented on. For example, pigs are widely acknowledged by scientists and researchers to be more intelligent than three year-old children. Cows enjoy solving puzzles and can figure out how to open locked gates. Chickens are capable of mathematical reasoning and logic skills not seen in children younger than four years old. Secondly, Descartes’ theory further claims that only human beings can engage in the kind of speech that is spontaneous and expresses thoughts. Many young children and infants lack the ability to utilise speech to express their thoughts. By these two rules Descartes imposes, are young children who cannot use speech or have lesser mathematical capabilities and logic skills, are seen as ruled by their automata and thus it should pose no ethical wrong to experiment on