Experiments on Animals

Abstract

First let us review the moral argument up to this point. Chapter 2 discussed the principle of an equal consideration of the interests of animals and of humans, according to their respective natures. Chapter 3 has now thrown further light on this principle in demonstrating the importance of a moral standpoint on animals being armed not only with benevolence and impartiality, but also with relevant knowledge of their natures. Moral debt was explained in the earlier chapter as denoting no more than what is owing to an object (animal or human) with possible application in several ways: first, in a way that is forward-looking, as when our moral principles indicate what we owe to an animal prior to the performance of a moral act relating to it; second, in a way that is backward-looking, and then occasionally forward-looking, as when we refer to human acts leading to animal harm or suffering, leaving us with a debt that only in some circumstances may be repaid; third, in a way that is backward-looking in appreciation of an animal’s past services to us, and still more seldom forward-looking, since we normally have no intention of attempting any kind of compensatory benevolence.