It May Be Thought Justifiable To Require

At The Descriptive Level, Certainly, You Would Expect Different Cultures To Develop Different Sorts Of Ethics And Obviously They Have; That Doesn't Mean That You Can't Think Of Overarching Ethical Principles You Would Want People To Follow In All Kinds Of Places.

So Far As This Argument Is Concerned Nonhuman Animals And Infants And Retarded Humans Are In The Same Category; And If We Use This Argument To Justify Experiments On Nonhuman Animals We Have To Ask Ourselves Whether We Are Also Prepared To Allow Experiments On Human Infants And Retarded Adults; And If We Make A Distinction Between Animals And These Humans, On What Basis Can We Do It, Other Than A Bare-faced - And Morally Indefensible - Preference For Members Of Our Own Species?

Should One Break In And Free The Animals? That Is Illegal, But The Obligation To Obey The Law Is Not Absolute. It Was Justifiably Broken By Those Who Helped Runaway Slaves In The American South, To Mention Only One Possible Parallel.

Every Profession Will Have Its Rogues, Of Course, No Matter What Oaths Are Sworn, But Many Health Care Professionals Have A Real Commitment To Serving The Best Interests Of Their Clients.

To Protest About Bullfighting In Spain, The Eating Of Dogs In South Korea, Or The Slaughter Of Baby Seals In Canada, While Continuing To Eat Eggs From Hens Who Have Spent Their Lives Crammed Into Cages, Or Veal From Calves Who Have Been Deprived Of Their Mothers, Their Proper Diet, And The Freedom To Lie Down With Their Legs Extended, Is Like Denouncing Apertheid In South Africa While Asking Your Neighbors Not To Sell Their Houses To Blacks.