Deck 16: Biomedical Research on Animals

Question 1

Radical-reformist abolitionism is the view that animal experimentation is

A) Mostly morally permissible
B) Mostly morally impermissible
C) Always forbidden
D) Always permissible

Answer 1

B

Question 2

An objection to the Benefits Argument is that

A) Animals are not good approximations of human anatomy and physiology
B) There is skepticism about the benefits of many experiments on animals for human health
C) Animal experimentation may have harmful consequences for humans
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

On animal experimentation, the animal-rights view amounts to

A) Eliminative abolitionism
B) Reformist abolitionism
C) Anti-abolitionism
D) None of the above

Answer 3

A

Question 4

On animal experimentation, the Hierarchical View amounts to

A) Eliminative abolitionism
B) Reformist abolitionism
C) Extreme anti-abolitionism
D) Moderate anti-abolitionism

Question 5

Which of the following best captures a reason often given by US courts to reject legal actions filed on behalf of captive animals?

A) Animals have sentience but are not as intelligent as humans
B) Animals lack legal duties and can therefore have no legal rights
C) Animals do not belong to the moral community
D) Animals lack moral agency

Question 6

Humanism is the view that

A) Cognitive capacity is morally relevant
B) Sentience is morally relevant
C) Species membership is morally relevant
D) All of the above

Question 7

According to Peter Singer, speciesism is

A) A prejudice worse than racism and sexism
B) A prejudice akin to racism and sexism
C) A prejudice not as bad as racism and sexism
D) Not a prejudice at all

Question 8

Which of the following claims best captures Peter Singer's response to the Argument from Marginal Cases?

A) The interests of marginal humans are not comparable to the interests of other higher animals
B) The interests of humans are never comparable to the interests of higher animals
C) Interests are something that only humans can have
D) None of the above

Question 9

In Peter Singer's view, sentient beings with comparable interests

A) May still have different moral standing
B) Have the same moral standing
C) May lack moral standing
D) May not all belong to the moral community

Question 10

For Kant, animals

A) Have rationality to a degree that makes animal cruelty morally impermissible
B) Lack rationality, but persons must avoid animal cruelty
C) Lack rationality, and this makes animal cruelty morally right for all concerned
D) Have enough rationality to make animal cruelty wrong for the animals' sake

Question 11

According to Kant, what sort of obligation is avoidance of animal cruelty?

Question 12

Locate Peter Singer's position in the debate about abolitionism of biomedical research on animals and contrast it with Tom Regan's.

Question 13

How might utilitarians and Kantians differ in their views about the moral permissibility of biomedical research on animals?

Question 14

In the debate about abolitionism of biomedical research on animals, which position is the Argument from Marginal Cases offered to undermine? Explain how it might do that.

Question 15

Discuss the role that cognitive development plays in the Hierarchical View's understanding of the moral standing of animals.