Brute Science: Dilemmas of Animal Experimentation

by Hugh LaFollette, Niall Shanks

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.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

LaFollette grew up in Nashville, TN. After graduating from (the now defunct)Isaac Litton High School, he attended Belmont College(now University). He graduated in 1970 with a major in psychology and a minor in speech and theater.

After fours years of college, he met the renowned editor John Seigenthaler of The Tennessean, and decided to give reporting a shot. Initially he served as a general assignment reporter. After a couple of months, he became the "Metro Beat" reporter: he covered the administration and council of the Metropolitan Nashville government. Occasionally he also covered the courts. But after two and a half years, he decided to take a leave of absence to take some philosophy graduate courses at Vanderbilt University.

After he finished his PhD, he had a visiting appointment at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.The following year he had the chance to move to East Tennessee State University. That spring he accepted the Marie and Leslie E. Cole Chair in Ethics at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

He is married and has three children. His wife (Eva) and he loves to travel.

In addition to his "ordinary" professional duties, for eight years he produced and hosted a weekly 30 minute interview show ("Ideas and Issues"), aired primarily on the local NPR affiliate (WETS-FM).

Reviews

[Tad · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is brilliant. it will overturn your assumptions about animal research and the practice of science in general. it leaves no stone unturned in the debate, and for some its treatment of the subject is overly complex and philosophical. though the treatment of the subject is unique and uncompromising it is surprisingly even handed to both sides. it is not written in a polemical style. instead the topic is analyzed in terms of the categories employed from the philosophy of science, philosophy of biological, ethical theory, and modern science. it is incredibly well sourced and expertly written. i found myself laughing at some points because of the subtlety and brilliance of some arguments that expose the contradictions of modern medical research.

[Corvus · Rating 5 out of 5]

The authors of this book present loads of facts and research from biological, philosophical, ethical, and other scientific perspectives in a completely calm and polite way. Though, at the same time, they make extremely strong and firm statements about nonhuman animal research. I found myself smiling, gasping, underlining, thinking, overwhelmingly absorbed, and so on while reading it.

This has become on of my favorite books on the use (or should I say "misuse") of animals in various industries and is definitely one of the best on the misuse of nonhuman animals in research.

I will be quoting it for many years to come, I am sure.