1st Edition

Brute Science:Dilemmas Animal

By Hugh LaFollette, Niall Shanks Copyright 1996

    First published in 1997. Aren't humans more valuable than animals? Isn't it morally appropriate to sacrifice animals to cure human disease? Questions about the scientific and moral status of biomedical experimentation are hotly debated in the media and in professional circles. The outcome of this debate will shape future public health policy. Lafollette and Shanks expose the weaknesses in both the standard defense and standard criticisms of animal experimentation. This thorough investigation of one of today's most fiercely debated questions yields some unexpected conclusions. Brute Science essential reading for anyone involved, directly or indirectly in animal experimentation.

    Part I. Understanding the Debate 1. A First Look: the Prima Facie Case 2. The Problems of Relevance 3. Claude Bernard: The Founder of the Paradigm 4. The Current Paradigm 5. Evolution I: Species and Species' Differences 6. Evolution II: The Widening Synthesis Part II. Evaluating Animal Experimentation: The Scientific Issues 7. Causal Disanalogy I: Strong Models and Theoretical Expectations 8. Causal Disanalogy II: The Empirical Evidence 9. Causal Disanalogy III: Weak Models 10. Evading Causal Disanalogy: It Just Works 11. Avoiding Causal Disanalogy: Transgenic Animals 12. Basic Research Part III. Evaluating Animal Experimentation: The Moral Issues 13. The Moral Debate in Historical Context 14. Speciesism: The Deontological Defense 15. Incalculable Benefits: the Consequentialist Defense.

    Biography

    Hugh LaFollette is Professor of Philosophy and Niall Shanks of Associate Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Biological Sciences at East Tennessee State University.