Experimental Animals (A Reality Fiction)

Experimental Animals (A Reality Fiction)

Science and ethics

This novel by Thalia Field explores the life, career, and marriage of Claude Bernard, an esteemed - and somewhat notorious - vivisectionist of the 19th century, whose experiments on animals offered a great deal to science and earned the ire of animal rights activists of the time, including his wife. His uncomfortable, and arguably unethical, treatment of the animals he vivisected earned him both scientific renown and comparisons to Victor Frankenstein, who in his hubris discovered the means to create life at a terrible cost.

𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯 has been referenced many times throughout its 200-year history as a warning against scientific hubris or a disregard for ethics. Whether in reference to so-called "Frankenfoods," cloning, robotics, or other controversial experimentation, 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯 is quickly invoked by critics worried about scientific hubris. Claude Bernard, whose controversial experiments both contributed massively to the field of biology and involved the callous use of animal life, is perhaps one of the most potent examples of this likening; while Bernard's experiments were tremendously important to the field of biology, one cannot help but ask one of the timeless questions posed by Shelley in 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯: "what moral and philosophical limits should be recognized in the pursuit of science?"

Matthew T. Coe

https://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9780986235535/experimental-animals-a-reality-fiction.aspx

Small Press Distribution

First published on November 1, 2016

English

Novel

Novel