If they [animals] were really to get the equal consideration that I believe they should, we wouldn't have commercial animal production in this country.
Peter SingerAccording to the Dominant Western tradition, the natural world exists for the benefit of human beings.
Peter SingerSo far as this argument is concerned nonhuman animals and infants and retarded humans are in the same category; and if we use this argument to justify experiments on nonhuman animals we have to ask ourselves whether we are also prepared to allow experiments on human infants and retarded adults; and if we make a distinction between animals and these humans, on what basis can we do it, other than a bare-faced - and morally indefensible - preference for members of our own species?
Peter SingerIn appropriate circumstances we are justified in using humans to achieve goals (or the goal of assisting animals).
Peter SingerIf we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animal, a dog or a pig, for example, we will often find the nonhuman to have superior capacities, both actual and potential, for rationality, self-consciousness, communication and anything else that can plausibly be considered morally significant.
Peter Singer