Why should animals have rights, especially in regards to lab animals?

Question

Animals are lesser beings than us therefore giving us the authority to test products on them that will benefit us. If it will possibly help the life of a human, it shouldn't matter how many rats, mice, or bunnys should have to be tested on to do so. Animals may feel pain during the test, but the reality of it is that 80% of all animals in labs will die there or be euthanized after ward, therefore it does,t matter much if they are in pain becuase they are going to die anyways.Animals are lesser beings than humans, so they should not have the same rights.


I have to counter a statement like this one for my debate team on saturday. I want to know what you would say to this if you were participating in a formal debate. Give me your best rebuttel.

Answer 1

first off, most people who answered didn't read carefully. This is the position of the opponent that the asker wants to refute. No ignorant insults required.

Second, in a formal debate, little of your content would be in the least bit effective.

Often times the best way to refute a position is to look at it from the perspective of that position then look for the potential weak points of their argument(s).

One way to do this is to look for assumptions not supported or backed by facts.
ie. 1. animals are lesser beings?
2. we have authority -- from who?
3. do all tests performed benefit us?
4. if 10,000 cute cuddly puppies had to die so that 1 in 1000 people don't get an itch from a sunless tanning creme would that be worth it? if not, how many then? If not puppies, how about rabbits? who gets to decide this? if I think cats are repulsive, does that mean that all cats are "lesser" than dogs or bunnies? (slippery slope argument)
5. Does eventual death negate the significance of suffering or pain? Based on the argument presented, since we are all going to die anyway, none of us should complain or do anything to to alleviate pain or suffering anywhere in the world. (extreme extrapolation) So since you (the opponant) and the judge are without a doubt doing to die someday, it wouldn't matter if someone hurt or mamed you right?
6. Death and pain are not the same is it?
7. the question asks about animals having ANY rights. The last statement in the argument talks about SAME rights. They are hoping that few people would agree that animals should have human rights. But, the truth is that few would agree that animals should have absolutely NO rights.
8. The argument of lesser beings have been used by many throughout history. Some that are worthy of note are the Nazis, and the Japanese. Both experimented on and tortured 100's of thousands of human beings based on their ideas of "lesser beings" (argument of extreme example)

There is so much more you can refute and holes you can pick in the opponants arguments but a good debater will be keenly aware of the the weaknesses in their own position. Also, you will have already thought up responses, positions and sources for your rebuttal.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Oh my gosh, that was almost nauseating to read. What kind of arrogance does it take to call animals “lesser beings?” What makes them so? Just because someone baselessly decided it? Even if they were, why does that automatically give us the “authority” to be cruel to them? Are there some laws I don’t know about or something? If something can’t talk, you have the authority to go ahead and test experimental drugs on it?

Hey, I guess Jews and blacks are lesser beings too, just because some ignorant moron decided they were.

Any creature that would experiment on another just so it can have better shampoo or eyeliner is the lesser being, in my opinion. Humans can be so absolutely disgusting sometimes.

Answer 3

Animals are more than ever a test of our character,of man's capacity for compassion and standard of morality,honorable conduct and faithful stewardship.... We are obligated to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don't; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us.I don't hold animals superior or even equal to humans. The whole case for behaving decently to animals rests on the fact that we are the superior species. We are the species uniquely capable of imagination, rationality, and moral choice - and that is precisely why we are under an obligation to recognize and respect the lives of animals.

Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are like us." Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are not like us." Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction. ~Charles R. Magel

The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality. ~Schopenhauer

Answer 4

i would say how would you like to be tested in a lab having chemicals put in your eyes and dying a pain full death all animals have rights they deserve to be treated with respect and looked after like you would your own children animals will never be a lesser beings in my eyes i treat my animals as an equal and will always have the same rights as us

Answer 5

Animals don't do wrong, that's true! But they are being used as lab animals in order for drugs to be safe to humans! But if only man is not selfish, this would not happen.

Answer 6

I would have to say life is life and their lives are worth living and noone has the right to mistreat or abuse their life for the sake of such products as perfume, dye in clothes, hairspray, mascara, makeup, etc. there is testing in animals done in regards to certain cures for diseases and I agree with that.

Answer 7

Animals are living creatures they deserve rights as much as us just because we are bigger then them does not give us the rights to bully them.Humans may as well be tested on because we are all ruining the world with global warming so we may as well give up......We are killing everything so if anyone is lesser it's humans they are petty bullys to animals and boss them around because they can't speak for themselfs.I have 3 dogs who eat the same food as me and sleep on my beds because they are living and deserve to be treated with some respect. Lab animals are cute and cuddly and should also be treated with respect treat all living things as you wishto be treated!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

Who are you to say that they are "lesser beings"? That is a horrible reason. So do you torture anything that you think isn't as good as you are? Thats sweet....

Animals are much more compassionate than humans and are completely selfless, unlike people...

Answer 9

Tell them that you will pour shampoo in their eyes 3 times a day for a week and then euthanize them. Will that work?

Answer 10

animals dont do anything wrong so why should they be put to a test..animals are good things like a dog is a best mans friend!!