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HIGH SCHOOL BIOETHICS PROJECT ETHICS OF ANIMAL USE IN RESEARCH OVERVIEW LEARNING OUTCOMES This module urges students to think about 1. Understand the ethical issues surrounding how we use animals in our everyday lives and killing or inflicting pain on animals for human in biomedical research, and to evaluate philo- benefit sophical and ethical issues surrounding animal 2. Review and evaluate philosophical and ethical use. Animals are obviously living, breathing, arguments concerning the value, rights, or complex beings like humans, but at the same welfare of animals time, they differ from us in many ways, and we 3. Assess possible shortcomings and challenges treat animals very differently than we treat other of current regulations of research on animals humans. In what fundamental ways do animals and consider changes differ from humans? What justifies our differen- tial treatment of animals? Do animals deserve the same level of rights and respect as humans? If so, why? Or are they so significantly different PROCEDURES AND ACTIVITIES that we should treat them with a different code of ethics? Students will explore these and other This unit uses a student-centered and interactive questions from a variety of religious and philo- approach to teaching. Activities are designed to sophical perspectives. allow for a maximum degree of student partici- pation and collaboration. Each activity is marked CONTENTS as an individual-, partner-, or group activity, or as a teacher-directed class discussion. 1. Introduction to Topic 2. Animal Use, Cases, and Controversies The following icons are used to designate the 3. Do Animals Have Moral Status or Value? different types of activities: 4. The Modern Philosophical Debate About Animal Use in Research 5. Rules and Regulations 6. Alternatives to Animal Use in Biomedical Individual Activity Research 7. References and Additional Resources Partner Activity Group Activity Teacher-Directed Class Discussion 1. INTRODUCTION TO TOPIC 2. Share and compare your notes with a partner. How did your response differ from A note on terminology: Emphasize to students that of your partner? Divide words into two that human beings are animals, but for purpos- categories: positive, negative. Which of es of this lesson, the term “animals” will be the two categories has more items? What used to refer specifically to non-human animals. prompted your negative reactions? (e.g. disgust, pity, compassion, hunger, etc.) 3. Mention to the class that the Whole Foods supermarket chain stopped selling live Students will answer the following questions to lobsters in 2006. Any idea why? gauge their pre-existing knowledge of the topic: • Have you ever conducted experiments in science class using living animals? • Have you ever dissected an animal in sci- ence class? • Do you own a pet? Do you think it/he/she Share the following quotations with your stu- experiences pain in the same way we do? dents: • What do you think is the main difference between animals and humans? PETA: “Lobsters are known to live more than • Do animals have emotions? 145 years in the ocean and can travel more • Do you think animals do or should have than 100 miles per year. Lobsters have sophis- rights the way humans do? ticated nervous systems, and are capable of experiencing pain and suffering. In their natural ocean homes, they have been observed walk- 2. ANIMAL USE, CASES AND CONTROVERSIES ing claw-in claw, the old leading the young.” Below are various options for teacher-directed John Mackey, Whole Foods’ co-founder and activities to spur class discussion of animal use chief executive: “We place as much emphasis in our society and controversial cases. on the importance of humane treatment and quality of life for all animals as we do on the expectations for quality and flavor.” Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman for PETA: “The ways that lobsters are treated would warrant felony cruelty to animals charges if they were dogs or cats.” Tony Blankley, Washington Times Op-ed, June 21. 2006: “Invertebrates, such as lobsters and snails (which are also delicious) conveniently (for those of us who love to eat lobsters and snails and also feel sympathy for animals) have simple nervous systems made up of chain ganglia — groups of 1. Look at the picture above. Write down the neurons connected by nerve fibers. According to first 3-5 words that come to mind. Professor Craig W. Stevens of Oklahoma State University in Tulsa, the chain ganglia network is so simple it doesn’t require a brain.” Ask students: Are the statements in the Consider the following list of animals: chimpan- quotations above for, or against the sale and zee, clam, elephant, octopus, mouse, dog, your cooking of live lobsters? pet, goldfish, cow, corals, fly, dolphin, canary, shark, horse, rat, spider. For • Lobsters have simple nervous systems that Divide these animals into three categories to don’t require a brain, so they don’t feel pain. the best of your ability: animals that can feel pain, animals that cannot feel pain, and animals Against you aren’t sure about. • Lobsters have complex nervous systems and are capable of experiencing pain and Feels Pain Cannot Feel Pain Not Sure suffering • The treatment of lobsters would warrant felony [charges for] cruelty to animals if they were dogs or cats Discussion Questions: • How can the obvious contradiction be- tween the descriptions of the nervous Compare your assumptions with a partner. What system of lobsters be resolved? What are criteria, principles or assumptions determined the definitions of “simple” and “complex” your decision? (e g. animals’ behavior indicates in these statements? pain, assumptions about nervous system, intu- • Are there ways to determine whether ition, degree of similarity to humans, etc.) animals can experience pain based on the make-up and structure of their brains? Collect and discuss the students’ findings. • Is it possible (at all) to determine with cer- What are these decisions based on? Record tainty whether animals (human or nonhu- and organize principles used to make their de- man) can experience pain? cisions on the board, e.g. behavior indicating • If so, should our knowledge about pain pain, human reactions to pain, which class of influence the way we treat our animals? animals they belong to, level of intelligence, • One of the arguments above compares structure/make-up of brain/nervous system. the treatment of lobsters to that of dogs and cats. Is this argument convincing? Discussion Questions: Why or why not? • Based on what we know so far, do you • If the lobster in the picture above were believe it is possible to determine whether instead a cat or a chimpanzee, would you or not an animal experiences pain, and to feel differently? How and why? what degree? • Should the ability to experience pain be our main criterion in determining how we should treat animals? • If so, is it always wrong to inflict suffering on those animals that definitely experi- Let’s assume the ability to experience pain could, ence pain? and should, be used in determining the way we treat animals. Where should we draw the line? Let’s take a step back for a moment and look at the many different ways in which animals are used in our society. What are some exam- mine how we should treat animals? ples? (E.g. sports, food, pets, research, agri- • Should we distinguish between different culture, etc.) degrees (more or less justifiable amounts) of discomfort, pain, or suffering? Break up students into small groups of three to • Finally, does our treatment of animals (and five. Each group will research one of the follow- our justification for inflicting pain and suf- ing areas in which animals are used by humans. fering) depend on the purpose and benefit Based on our previous discussions about pain for us? and the status of animals, consider whether the use of animals in the category you research is: 1) always justified, 2) never justified, or 3) some- 3. DO ANIMALS HAVE MORAL STATUS times justified. Provide reasons for your decision. OR VALUE? Categories: As we have seen in the first segment of this 1. Raising and killing animals to serve as food module, one approach to the question of for us how animals should (and, more importantly, 2. Killing animals that are a direct threat or nui- shouldn’t) be treated is to look at whether an- sance to us (e.g. sharks, mosquitoes, rats, imals experience pain as we do. The problem deer in urban areas, etc.) with relying on pain as the only criterion is 3. Using animals in research that could help that it may not be easy (or possible) to deter- protect us from disease, pain, suffering, mine whether animals experience pain at all, premature death, etc. and to what degree. 4. Using animals to make our lives more plea- surable (e.g. to make fur products or test Furthermore, there may be cases in which we perfumes and beauty products) may consider it ethically permissible to inflict 5. Using animals in sports/entertainment at least some level of discomfort, pain, or even (horseback riding, hunting, dog-, bull-, cock- death on (some) animals. fighting, circus, etc.) 6. Using animals to work or perform tasks Perhaps there is another way to determine for us (agriculture, seeing-eye dogs, police how we should treat animals. Namely by dogs, dogs in the military, etc.) determining the value or moral status of an- imals, which may then allow us to formulate Groups will present their findings. As they principles that could be used as a guide to our listen, students should identify and record the treatment of animals. reasons/principles that were used to decide which of these uses of animals are justified or When we talk about something having “value,” not (e.g. degree of benefit to humans, necessi- what exactly do we mean? To do this, we must ty, nature, suffering, etc.) distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic value. Further Questions for Discussion: Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic Value • If in some cases, it is permissible to kill or inflict some level of discomfort or pain on Intrinsic Value and Goods: animals, what justifies such treatment? • Something just is valuable; non-derivative- • If pain is not the main criterion, are there ly good other criteria that could be used to deter- • The value is an internal property of some- thing, defines its existence • Something has intrinsic value if it is valu- able “in itself,” “for its own sake,” “as such” or “in its own right” Religious and Philosophical Views on the Value of Animals Extrinsic Value: • Instrumental goods • Good for something else, i.e. “is a means With a partner, decide which of the following to an end” quotes from a variety of religious and philo- sophical texts consider animals to have intrin- sic value, extrinsic value, or both. Hebrew Scripture/Old Testament “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the sev- Based on the definitions above, students enth day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine should decide on at least three things they ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and believe have “intrinsic” value. (e g. democra- the stranger, may be refreshed.” (Exodus) cy, freedom, liberty, life, beauty, art, the earth/ environment, nature, etc.). “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is tread- ing out the grain.” (Deut. 25:4) Collect and discuss students’ findings. What gives these items “intrinsic” value? In other “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the words, what makes them good “as such” or “in earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over themselves”? (E.g. the line in the declaration the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the of independence: “We hold these truths to be air, and over every living thing that moveth self-evident...” shows the need for basic princi- upon the earth.” (Genesis) ples that we can all agree upon and that cannot, or should not, be further questioned). “For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is tine same. As one dies so dies In what way can we say that humans have in- the other; indeed, they all have the same trinsic value that is not limited to being used for breath and there is no advantage for man over some purpose? (i.e. that a human is an end-in- beast for all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19) itself rather than a means to an end?) “His compassion rests upon all his creatures.” Do animals also have intrinsic value, or do they (Psalms 145:9) merely have extrinsic value, e.g. the value of be- ing used by humans as a means to (our) ends? New Testament “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it Questions for Discussion: falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold • What would make animals not have intrin- of it and lift it out? Of how much more value sic value the way humans do? is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do • What are some key differences that give us good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:11-12) rights and moral standing, but not animals? • Do some animals have more (or a different St. Thomas Aquinas degree of) intrinsic value than others? Why? “...According to the Divine ordinance the life of animals and plants is preserved not for them- selves but for man. Hence, as Augustine says (De Civ. Dei i, 20), ‘by a most just ordinance of the Creator, both their life and their death are subject to our use!” (Summa Theologica) ting oneself in the place of the other, let no St. Francis of Assisi one kill nor cause another to kill.” (Dhamma- “Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first pada 129, Karma and status) duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission—to be of service Native American to them wherever they require it.” “What is a man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die form great Hinduism loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the “Having well considered the origin of flesh foods. beasts also happens to man.” (Chief Seattle) And the cruelty of fettering and slaying corpo- real beings let man entirely abstain from eating Aristotle flesh.” (Manusmriti 5.49, Early Hindu Scripture) “In like manner we may infer that, after the birth of animals, plants exist for their sake, “To my mind the life of a lamb is no less pre- and that the other animals exist for the sake cious than that of a human being. I should be of man, the tame for use and food, the wild, unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake if not all at least the greater part of them, for of the human body. I hold that the more help- food, and for the provision of clothing and less a creature, the more entitled it is to the various instruments. Now if nature makes protection by man from the cruelty of man.” nothing incomplete, and nothing in vain, the (Mahatma Gandhi) inference must be that she has made all ani- mals for the sake of man.” (Politics) “I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with inno- Immanuel Kant cent blood I count as of no consequence.” “...Every rational being, exists as an end in (Mahatma Gandhi) himself and not merely as a means to be arbitrarily used by this or that will...Beings Jainism whose existence depends not on our will but “In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief on nature have, nevertheless, if they are not we should regard all creatures as we regard rational beings, only a relative value as means our own self, and should therefore refrain and are therefore called things. On the other from inflicting upon others such injury as hand, rational beings are called persons inas- would appear undesirable to us if inflicted much as their nature already marks them out upon ourselves.” (Yogashastra, Jain Scripture) as ends in themselves.” (Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals) “This is the quintessence of wisdom; not to kill anything. All breathing, existing, living sen- “So far as mere reason can judge, man has tient creatures should not be slain, nor treated duties only to man; for his duty to any subject with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor is moral necessitation by that subject’s will. driven away. This is the pure unchangeable Hence the necessitating (obligating) subject Law. Therefore, cease to injure living things.” must, first, be a person; and this person (Yogashastra, Jain Scripture) must, secondly, be given as an object of experience . . . but with all our experience we Buddhism know of no being other than man that would “All living things fear being beaten with clubs. be susceptible of obligation. Therefore man All living things fear being put to death. Put- can have no duties to beings other than man.” (Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals) Jeremy Bentham “The day may come when the rest of the an- Primarily Primarily Not Sure/ Intrinsic Extrinsic Both (?) imal creation may acquire those rights which Buddhism New Testament Hebrew never could have been witholden from them Jainism Thomas Aquinas Scripture/ but by the hand of tyranny The French have Francis of Assisi Aristotle Old Testament already discovered that the blackness of the Bentham Kant Hinduism skin is no reason why a human being should Schopenhauer Native American (?) be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor. It may one day come to be recognized that the number of the legs, the villosity of the skin, or the termination of the os sacrum, are reasons equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same Collect students’ findings and consider the fate.” (An Introduction to the Principles of following questions: Morals and Legislation) • What are the main criteria used in these quotes to determine whether animals have “What else is it that should trace the insu- intrinsic or extrinsic value? perable line? Is it the faculty of reason, or • Which of the arguments/criteria used to perhaps the faculty of discourse? But a full- determine how we should treat animals do grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a you find most compelling, and why? more rational, as well as a more conversable • Do you believe that there is a conclusive animal, than an infant of a day, or a week, or answer to this question, or is it ultimately even a month, old. But suppose they were up to each individual person to decide how otherwise, what would it avail? The question to treat animals? is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? • What additional information do we need to but, Can they suffer?” (An Introduction to the arrive at a conclusion? Principles of Morals and Legislation) 4. THE MODERN AND PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATE Arthur Schopenhauer ABOUT ANIMAL USE IN RESEARCH “Compassion for animals is intimately asso- ciated with goodness of character, and it may In this section, we will discuss the modem phil- be confidently asserted that he, who is cruel osophical debate on the issue of the use of ani- to living creatures, cannot be a good man.” mals in research. Students will explore positions (On the Basis of Morality) on this issue, held by four prominent ethicists, namely Peter Singer, Tom Regan, Bernard Rollin, “The assumption that animals are without rights and Arthur Caplan. After considering possible and tire illusion that our treatment of them has arguments for and against the use of animals in no moral significance is a positively outrageous research, students will be introduced to some example of Western crudity and barbarity. basic facts about the scale and nature of animal Universal compassion is the only guarantee of use in research today, followed by a discussion morality.” (On the Basis of Morality) of views of the four ethicists mentioned above. Ask students to categorize the views repre- Vivisection sented in the quotations above by how they interpret non-human animals’ value. The question of the treatment of animals (in the West) began with a public debate about the pros and cons of vivisection in England in the 19th century. This debate led to the first use is now a huge part of research and experi- legislation on the treatment of animals in 1876. mentation in many different industries. 1. What is vivisection? (Etymology: Combina- tion of the Latin words “vivus” (alive) and Number of animals currently used in research “secure” (to cut). Vivisection is the practice in the US: of doing scientific or medical experiments on live animals. Recent (2009) United States Department of 2. Based on our discussions so far, what do Agriculture statistics list a total of 1,136,841 you think would have been the main argu- primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, ments for and against vivisection, when hamsters, and other species as being subject- this first became an issue in England in the ed to experimental procedures. The species 19th century? by species listing includes: 3. Collect and discuss students’ findings, then 72,037 dogs share with students some of the actual 69,990 primates arguments used in the debate, and the 65,615 pigs principles on which these arguments were 236,511 rabbits based, as well as information about legisla- 22,687 cats tion from the debate about vivisection. 172,498 hamsters 31,106 other farm animals Pro Vivisection Contra Vivisection 13,240 sheep 136,509 other animals Need For human health We can eliminate much of 207,257 guinea pigs and well being; no the animal research we real alternatives. currently conduct; The species that are not covered by the continued reliance of scientists on animal Animal Welfare Act, such as rats, mice, etc. models because of an are not counted. Additionally, these statistics economic or financial do not cover animals that are caged in labora- power structure tories, but are being held for conditioning or maintaining the status breeding rather than used for experiments. quo; cosmetics Moral Animals don’t Research shows animals Four views of contemporary philosophers: Equity experience pain and are remarkably similar to distress the way humans; sentience, Introduction: The four ethicists highlighted in humans might; consciousness; feel pain. this section of the unit represent different po- humans count more. sitions in the current debate on the treatment Priority There’s plenty of High priority b/c animals of animals. Their positions are summarized in misery in human are vulnerable to direct quotations from their writings and in- conditions that unavoidable suffering terviews. Your task will be to identify the key could use the caused by humans. arguments contained in the views they hold. attention of the antivivisectionists. or Contemporary Use of Animals in Research Students will work in small groups. They will While vivisection constituted a very small be provided information on each of the four part of research in the 19th century when the thinker’s position. Alternatively, groups of stu- debate about vivisection took place, animal dents may be provided with the information on just one of these thinkers listed below, and be asked to research them independently. mals do not have to the same or a higher de- Each group will try to answer the following gree. Someone might try to argue that what questions about the view of the ethicist they makes it wrong to experiment on a human have been assigned: infant is that the infant will, in time and if left • What is the main criterion or guiding princi- alone, develop into more than the nonhuman, ple used to determine how we should treat but one would then, to be consistent, have animals? to oppose abortion, since the fetus has the • Does your ethicist believe that conducting same potential as the infant—indeed, even research on animals is morally legitimate, contraception and abstinence might be wrong or not? on this ground, since the egg and sperm, con- • Do you agree with the position represented sidered jointly, also have the same potential. by your ethicist? Why or why not? In any case, this argument still gives us no reason for selecting a nonhuman, rather than #1 PETER SINGER a human with severe and irreversible brain This book [Animal Liberation] is about the tyr- damage, as the subject for our experiments. anny of human over nonhuman animals This (All Animals Are Equal) tyranny has caused and today is still causing an amount of pain and suffering that can only #2 TOM REGAN be compared with that which resulted from There are many people who feel that we have the centuries of tyranny by white humans an obligation to be kind to animals, and not to over black humans. The struggle against this be cruel to them. But this view doesn’t make tyranny is a struggle as important as any of it a matter of justice that we treat animals in a the moral and social issues that have been certain way—just that it is nice if we are kind fought in recent years. (Animal Liberation) and not very good if we are cruel. Many peo- ple think that we should be nice to animals [The A]rgument about vivisection...has been put because if we are not nice to animals we will in absolutist terms: would the abolitionist [i.e. a not be nice people, and then we will end up person in favor of abolishing animal testing] be beating up our children and our neighbors prepared to let thousands die if they could be and so on. The problem is, these views don’t saved by experimenting on a single animal? The focus on our duty to animals but only on the way to reply to this purely hypothetical question effects our treatment of animals has on us. is to pose another: Would the experimenter The rights view says, “We owe it as a matter be prepared to perform his experiment on an of strict justice to treat animals in a certain orphaned human infant, if that were the only way.” In particular we owe it to these animals way to save many lives? If the experimenter is not to eat them, for example, or not to put not prepared to use an orphaned human infant, them in cages for our entertainment, or not to then his readiness to use nonhumans is simple use them in education or in surgery, which is discrimination, since adult apes, cats, mice, so anachronistic and yet characteristic of mo- and other mammals are more aware of what is dem medical education in the United States. happening to them, more self-directing and, so The current view is, “These animals are ours, far as we can tell, at least as sensitive to pain as we may do with them as we wish.” The rights any human infant. view says, “No you may not. They cannot claim their rights, they cannot understand There seems to be no relevant characteristic their rights, and in this way they are very that human infants possess that adult mam- much like mentally enfeebled human beings. But they have them none the less.’’ (Interview, taken from: http://appethics. blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/interview-with-re- have communicated their sorrow and perplex- gan-animal-rights.html) ity and anxiety and anger and fear and grief when they are wrenched out of a rich environ- In the case of the use of animals in science, ment where they were being treated as ‘hon- the rights view is categorically abolitionist. orary humans’—sometimes living as a child in Lab animals are not our tasters; we are not the researchers’ homes—and suddenly in- their kings. Because these animals are treat- carcerated in a place where they are used for ed routinely, systematically as if their value invasive research, and have no one, human or were reducible to their usefulness to others, ape, to communicate with, and live wretched, they are routinely, systematically treated with isolated, deprived, lives. Most tragic, perhaps, a lack of respect, and thus are their rights is that they cannot understand what they routinely, systematically violated. have done to merit what they, in their sublime innocence, must surely see as punishment. This is just as true when they are used in trivial, duplicative, unnecessary or unwise re- Here, I have suggested, we can accelerate the search as it is when they are used in studies moral and legal enfranchisement of animals, that hold out real promise of human benefits. at least of these animals, by using the extant We can’t justify harming or killing a human be- legal machinery, and letting them tell their ing (my Aunt Bea, for example) just for these story in the context of the judicial system. I sorts of reason. Neither can we do so even in am envisioning a plausible legal case based on the case of so lowly a creature as a laboratory the notions of denial of due process and cruel rat. It is not just refinement or reduction that and unusual punishment. Surely one can make is called for, not just larger, cleaner cages, the reasonable case that these animals are, by not just more generous use of anesthetic or all rational standards, persons who have been the elimination of multiple surgeries, not just denied the fundamental civil rights and proce- tidying up the system. It is complete replace- dures due to persons. These animals possess ment. The best we can do when it comes to measurable intelligence, sometimes in excess using animals in science is not to use them. of that possessed by certain humans, they can That is where our duty lies, according to the reason and, most important, they can elo- rights view. (The Case for Animal Rights) quently speak for themselves, and tell of their anguish and sorrow. #3 BERNARD ROLLIN Consider, then, a chimpanzee or an orangutan I am thus envisioning a new ‘monkey trial,’ or a gorilla who has learned to communicate at least as spectacular in its appeal and im- with humans using a system perceived by plications as the Scopes trial, which tested most people as indeed linguistic. The exper- the Tennessee law against the teaching of iment is terminated, and the animal is no evolution. Such a trial would be extraordinarily longer of use and is turned over to a zoo, or salubrious in just the same sense...This trial to a laboratory. When I first discussed this would force an examination of our moral and sort of case, in the late 1970s, this scenario attendant legal commitments, and illuminate was hypothetical. By the late 1980s, however, areas too long left in the dark. it was all too real. Unfortunately, as Eugene Linden has so deftly documented, this sort of Whatever the outcome of such a trial, the an- case has occurred with heart-rending fre- imals would of necessity win. If the trial were quency. Linden has told of how these animals lost, the issues would still have been powerful- ly and unforgettably aired, and the failure of our current law and morality to protect these inno-

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The reviews are quoted from Books In Print Online, used under the Fair . There is something about the hideous old house that attracts Cass, so he is Cass finds in his bedroom closet--a picture of a snake swallowing its own tail But Vernon gets a job helping out Maxine, the neighborhood 'crazy
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