ABSTRACT
In recent years the philosophical case for according serious moral status to nonhuman animals has been made quite forcefully from a variety of philosophical perspective. The humane treatment approach is well-captured by the Stanford University Medical Center Committee on Ethics: There is a common-sense view that avoids the extremes of ascribing rights to animals or stripping them of all moral worth and yet allows them to be used in research under certain conditions. According to the Stanford committee on ethics quoted above, the notion of humane treatment is a powerful force governing the treatment of animals in research. Schweitzer's notion of necessity requires that there be a purpose to the destruction of life, but not that the purpose is itself justifiable. Secular justifications in terms of important differences between human beings and other species are problematic given that not all humans will have the characteristics.
