This book charts the way people, in general, and scientists have viewed the status of animals. It examines how changing views have affected the way we use, treat and experiment on animals. It also explores how these changing views have affected the way we view others and ourselves. The book is confined to the western philosophical tradition from Plato and Aristotle through Aquinas, Descartes and Hobbs, to Singer and Regan. Western philosophy is behind much of modern science. The scientists commented on include Galen, da Vinci, Harvey, Galvini and Darwin. The story, briefly, is that the perception of animals changed as the biological sciences developed, and the commonality between humans and other animals was noted. The development of theories of evolution finally ended any qualitative differences between humans and animals. This story, which occupies about half the text, is dealt with in great detail, but in a way that is clear and concise. Quotations of early philosophers and scientists are from modern editions. In the case of the Greek and Medieval writers, secondary sources are used. This overcomes the problem of changes of the meanings of words and concepts. To take a rather crude example; Descartes did not mean, when he described animals as machines, that they were no better than an old wooden hand cart that could be left to rot or be chopped up for firewood. Rather, he meant that they operated in a way determined by internal construction and not by free will or a soul.
The second half of the book deals with major consequences of the Darwinian revolution. How far are animals the same as humans? How valid are physiological assumptions given the very specific adaptations of individual species? Do animals have language? When did language become part of the repertoire of humans? Are animals self‐conscious or self‐referent? Are these properties dependent on the possession of language? A number of problems arise whatever the answer to these questions. If animals are significantly different from humans then detailed physiology, like drug and toxicity testing, might not be valid. If they are self‐conscious they might have claims to some form of rights. If they are not so, then what is the status of human embryos, foetuses and new born children that do not yet have these abilities. These are just a few of the problems raised by the author that sit in my mind since reading this challenging and interesting book. The author ends by flagging up aspects of meat production, plant production, microbial technology and ecology that can be informed by some of the points he has raised. They are in themselves problems that could lead to books of their own.
The book ends with 12 lengthy quotes from primary sources, from Summa contra Gentiles (c. 1260) by Aquinas to The Question of Animal Awareness (1976) by Donald Griffin. Each chapter has suggestions for further reading, and there is a full bibliography and index. Animals and Science is part of the ABC‐CLIO series, Controversies in Science, that has recently been launched. Having looked at the list of series titles on their Web site (www.abc‐clio.com), this series is going to provide good overviews of important and difficult topics. The market will be those people and organisations involved in or concerned about such issues. For this particular book the specific market will be animal welfare groups, ethical groups and committees, biologists, medical practitioners and philosophers. Industries and academic institutions doing animal experiments will find this a book worth reading. It is a text that needs to be read in long, careful stretches; I know I will have to read it again to fully grasp all the arguments. Because of its clear marshalling of sources and arguments this book is a good guide to the debates concerning animals and science and thus a good reference book, but is also a book for libraries to loan.
