Finsen S
Department of Philosophy, California State University, San Bernardino 92417.
J Med Philos. 1988 May;13(2):197-212. doi: 10.1093/jmp/13.2.197.
A 'lifeboat' situation is one in which all are in great peril and someone must be sacrificed lest all perish. In such situations, it is permissible to do things which would be considered wrong under less drastic circumstances. Proponents of animal rights such as Tom Regan agree that in such circumstances it may be necessary to sacrifice a dog in order to save human life. Is such an admission consistent with calling for the abolition of all scientific research on animals? That is, is scientific research a 'lifeboat'? The analogy is tempting but flawed. The demand for abolition of animal research is not marred by consistency on this score.
“救生艇”情形是指所有人都处于巨大危险之中，必须有人做出牺牲以免所有人都灭亡。在这种情况下，做一些在不那么极端的情形下会被视为错误的事情是可以被允许的。像汤姆·里根这样的动物权利支持者也承认，在这种情形下，为了拯救人类生命而牺牲一只狗可能是必要的。这样的承认与呼吁废除所有动物科学研究是否一致呢？也就是说，科学研究是一种“救生艇”情形吗？这种类比很有吸引力，但存在缺陷。在这一点上，废除动物研究的要求并不存在前后矛盾的问题。
