Virtue ethicists say that the right act to perform are the virtuous acts, which are the acts that make one flourish. A Kantian says that the right act to perform are the acts that treat rational beings as ends in themselves, rather than means to other ends. While they seem more similar to each other than to utilitarianism, I would argue that when it comes to using great apes for medical experiments, a virtue ethicist will hold a drastically different position from a Kantian. As a clarification, let us first agree that the research experiments are inevitably painful or deadly, for otherwise I believe no matter what position one holds, one would always try to avoid making the animals suffer.
First of all, I think a Kantian would not only endorse using the great apes as subjects in potentially painful or deadly medical research which could be of great benefit to human beings, but also object to not doing so. As Kant himself directly implied in Duties Towards Animals, we have no direct duties to animals. Animals are not self-conscious and are there merely as a means to an end. Hence, we are not directly committing a wrong act by inflicting inevitable pain on animals for human ends. As I emphasized, had the pain been avoidable, the Kantian position would be different, but as how it is now, Kant would not object to the experiments. And He would also object to not conducting the experiments, because by not doing so, we are using human beings as means to the ends of animal welfare. That violate the principle of ends for a Kantian.
For a virtue ethicist, there are lots of reasons for why such experiments should not be conducted. Every reason will revolve around an important and desirable virtue that one can possess. We shall list two here just as examples. One virtue is empathy. A virtue ethicist will say that by sparing the lab animals, we are showing empathy that is crucial for one to thrive in a human society, because empathy not only allows us to be more sensitive and understand the world better, but also allows us to share the joy of others, or even the animals being spared. Another virtue is selflessness. A virtue ethicist can argue that by realizing that we are not the center of the universe and the only thing that matters, we will gain a deeper understanding and acceptance of the world and ourselves. And to cultivate this selflessness, we need to release the lab animals, rather than taking their life for our ends. Though there may be practical reasons for why we should conduct the experiments, a virtue ethicist can argue that none of them is related to human virtues.
To conclude, a Kantian will determinedly say that we should conduct the experiment at the cost of suffering of apes, while the virtue ethicist shakes his/her head on the side solemnly.
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