Rebecca Walker’s new book, Of Mice and Primates: Virtue Ethics and Animal Research, is out now from Oxford University Press.
The ethics of research on animals has historically been viewed through the lens of welfare, and whether animals have rights. Is the pain and distress experienced by animals worth the gain in scientific knowledge? Alternatively, do animals have rights not to be used in some kinds of experiments? Regardless of the outcome, these approaches focus only on whether or when animal research is morally justified. Rebecca Walker here argues against this paradigm, and advocates for a virtue ethics approach. She argues that what is missing from the traditional approach to animal research are issues of character, context, and relationships.
Of Mice and Primates addresses various questions by reorienting our moral concern about animal research, and offers a moral theory focused on what actually happens in research settings.
Use code AUFLY30 to save 30% off the book when ordering from the publisher.
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