Animals in education and the structure of science

Abstract

The author puts forward the idea that one reason why ethical aspects of scientific experimentation received so little attention until recently, may be related to the methodological structure of natural science. It is the objectivation of nature and the belief in the value-freedom of science which have led to the separation between applying science and ethical reflection. In cases of conscientious objection one can regularly hear scientists say that students who don't want to do animal experiments should not study biology. This view overlooks the fact that besides the reductionistic approach there is also the holistic-naturalistic approach in biology. In the latter approach animals are studied for their own sake, rather than as measuring instruments or ‘models’. Ethicists would say that the animal studied in this approach has a value-of-its-own (intrinsic value), rather than the instrumental value of the animal in the laboratory. The choice for a reductionistic or holistic approach has different consequenc...