Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Group 2 Discussion

Our group discussed the animal rights topic. We had some disagreements about the rights of animals and whether or not they should be used for medical research.  I personally believe that animals are not equals and therefore don't share the same rights. With that being said, I do like animals! I would not agree with testing on animals for insignificant gains but if animals can be used to make us as humans suffer less then I would be for it.  One more thing that struck me as off in the book is on page 122 where Bentham states that since animals can suffer.  Yes, I do believe they can suffer but I don't think that animal suffering should count as much as human suffering in the utilitarian calculus of happiness.

2 comments:

  1. Factual Questions:

    1) What percentage of our nations GDP is spent on health care and are we one of the highest or lowest?
    18% and we are the highest compared to others, some spending as little as 3%.

    2) Although the major infectious diseases may have been eradicated in higher income societies, they have been replaced by ____________.
    Diseases of affluence

    Discussion Question:
    I am interested to know what others in this class think about the situation involving who should receive the kidney (mentioned toward the last part of the chapter). Should it be determined by Quality Adjusted Life Years?

    For anyone who is interested in the concept of Quality Adjusted Life Years:

    http://www.nice.org.uk/newsroom/features/measuringeffectivenessandcosteffectivenesstheqaly.jsp

    ReplyDelete
  2. FQ: What is the difference between equal and equitable treatment?
    Equal means exactly the same, and equitable means that people are treated differently according to their differences.

    DQ: Do you think people should want equal rights or equitable rights? If equitable, why? And who would be put in charge of deciding what is considered equitable or fair?

    Link:
    Equity vs. Equality in education
    http://mste.illinois.edu/hill/papers/equity.html

    ReplyDelete