The assumption that animal experimentation is necessary for the advancement of science creates a tension between our desire for scientific progress and the need to respect the rights of animals. However, the necessity of animal experimentation for scientific progress is not well- founded. Also this tension is an extension of a false dichotomy that implies our values and objective science contradict each other. In recent years, the view that better care for animals will provide more reliable scientific data and will (...) reduce ethical concerns regarding animal experimentation has become widespread. However, the developments in the recently emerging care literature do not offer a new ethical perspective, but only acknowledge the suffering of animals as a factor that should be taken into account within utilitarian ethics. In this article, we will try to show that a feminist ethics of care perspective that is not based on utilitarianism can lead both to a methodologically better science and an ethically acceptable scientific practice. (shrink)

The ideal of the bodhisattva was crucial in the development of the Mah y na branch of the Buddhist tradition. It provided a meeting ground for cardinal Mah y nist doctrines concerning praj, karun and ś nvat, as well as introducing into Buddhism more overtly religious elements which help to account for its popular appeal in those areas where the Mah y na took hold. The vow of the bodhisattva to forego entry into nirv na until all beings “down (...) to the last blade of grass” have been delivered raises several apparent contradictions and condundrums; these disappear in the light of a proper understanding of the pivotal Mah y nist doctrine of ś nvat. This paper examines the relationship of the bodhisattva ideal to the metaphysic of sunyata and discusses the place of this ideal in the spiritual economy of the Mah y na. (shrink)