Animal Experimentation and Neglected Interests

Duty and the Beast: Animal Experimentation and Neglected Interests

D. Benatar, 2000 

From the Department of Philosophy, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

I take it that the moral dilemma many people feel about animal experimentation is that they value its benefits yet simultaneously recognise that these benefits are at considerable cost to animals. The question then becomes: Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Glib answers to this difficult question are frequently offered from both sides of the animal experimentation dispute. For many opponents of animal experimentation, the answer is obviously negative. For many animal experimenters and their defenders, the answer is obviously affirmative.