Bioethical problems of the moral status of animals

The article considers the most important aspects of the debate about the moral status of animals and the bioethical problems of conducting experiments on them. The turning point in solving this problem is the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham, who considers the ability to suffer as a criterion of moral status. A philosophical analysis is given of the key positions of modern thinkers: Peter Singer, Tom Regan and Gary Francione, etc., who advocate the inclusion of animals in the sphere of morality, and Peter Carruthers' arguments justifying the exclusion of animals from the sphere of morality. The influence of these discussions on the formation of new ethical principles of animal research is shown.