January
2000
A
New Science for the 21st Century
By Bernard
E. Rollin
|
|
|
For most of the 20th century, science has been
captured by erroneous philosophical assumptions that hardened into
unquestioned
ideology. Two major components of this ideology are, first of all, the
claim that science is “value-free” in general, and ethics-free
in particular. Second, science declared itself agnostic about mental
states
in nonhuman animals, including pain and suffering. Based on the fallacious
belief that science could only deal with what it could prove empirically,
these two beliefs paved the way for appalling treatment of animals
in
scientific contexts.
Fortunately, both of these dogmas are being
eroded by social concern. No longer content to leave science to its own
devices, society has become very conscious of the fact that scientific
activity is fraught with debatable ethical assumptions, be it the belief
that animal use is not a moral issue or the equally dubious tendency to
do human epidemiological studies primarily on males.
Second, society will no longer accept scientific agnosticism about animal
thought and feeling. In 1985, social concern for animals in research
cut
through that agnosticism by mandating in federal law that animals feel
pain and distress. As books, films, articles, and television programs
that explore animal minds proliferate, science’s ignoring of animal
mentation becomes increasingly untenable. Activism should continue to
challenge these dogmas.
Finally, one can anticipate serious movements to elevate the legal status
of animals beyond property. Serious legal scholars at many law schools
are engaging this issue, as are grass-roots efforts such as the Great
Ape Project, or the movement in San Francisco to declare people who live
with companion animals “guardians” and not “owners.” Ten
years ago, the Canadian Law Reform Commission indicated that it was time
to raise the legal status of animals. The primates who have been
taught to communicate by researchers and have been trashed or sold to
toxicology labs when the funding ran out, provide a grim reminder to
society
of the need for a new legal status, at the least for nonhuman primates.
