A moral and ethics discussion

We had a fascinating ethics discussion around animals, food, and animal testing.

We discussed the statement - Would it be justifiable to whip pigs to death if it produced better tasting pork? This elicited some strong responses from students and led to some great discussion around treatment of animals. We discussed if we hold the same view for all animals, including flies and ants. It was interesting to look at peoples reasons for their opinions.

We learnt the term 'devils advocate' which means to argue the opposite position in a debate to get people to think carefully through their opinions. I played this role in our discussion.

We then watched the below animation and discussed animal testing and if, or when, it is OK. We also discussed how life could be different now if animal testing had never been allowed.

An interesting follow up question would be Will different cultures have different opinions on animal ethics? Why?