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The Asymmetrical Contributions of Pleasure and Pain to Animal Welfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2014

ADAM J. SHRIVER
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Abstract:

Recent results from the neurosciences demonstrate that pleasure and pain are not two symmetrical poles of a single scale of experience but in fact two different types of experiences altogether, with dramatically different contributions to well-being. These differences between pleasure and pain and the general finding that “the bad is stronger than the good” have important implications for our treatment of nonhuman animals. In particular, whereas animal experimentation that causes suffering might be justified if it leads to the prevention of more suffering, it can never by justified merely by leading to increased levels of happiness.

Keywords

pleasurepainasymmetrysufferingwell-beinganimal experimentation
Type
Special Section: Neuroethics and Animals
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 152 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Notes

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