There is a new book I want to recommend to readers — Science and Ethics by Bernard E. Rollin (Cambridge University Press, 2006). I have been using the book in my Human-Animal Studies course, and students have found it both engaging and insightful. I must agree! Rollin offers an especially powerful critique of ethics-blind and value-free science, without trashing science or scientists. He instead treats them like human beings, with all the virtues and vices characteristic of our species, and expects both individuals and institutions to live up to their moral obligations. I highly recommend this book to readers who are either new or experienced in such issues.

Back Jacket Text:

Bernard Rollin historically and conceptually examines the ideology that denies the relevance of ethics to science. Providing an introduction to basic ethical concepts, he discusses a variety of ethical issues relevant to science and how they are ignored, to the detriment of both science and society. These issues include research on human subjects, animal research, genetic engineering, biotechnology, cloning, xenotransplantation, and stem cell research. Rollin also explores the ideological agnosticism that scientists have displayed regarding subjective experience in humans and animals, and its pernicious effect on pain management. Finally, he articulates the implications of the ideological denial of ethics for the practice of science itself in terms of fraud, plagiarism and data falsification. In engaging prose and with philosophical sophistication, Rollin cogently argues in favor of making education in ethics part and parcel of sceintific training.

Bernard E. Rollin is University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Biomedical Sciences, and Animal Science at Colorado State University. He is the author of 14 books including The Frankenstein Syndrome: Ethical and Social Issues in the Genetic Engineering of Animals and The Unheeded Cry: Animal Consciousness, Animal Pain and Science.