Bernard Rollin

This article deals with the philosopher, for the physicist see Bernard Vincent Rollin

Bernard Rollin (born February 18, 1943 ) is an American philosopher and animal ethicist . He is Professor of Philosophy and Livestock Science at Colorado State University .

Act

Rollin received his PhD from Columbia University in 1972 . His scientific interests include traditional and applied philosophy. In addition to the two-volume work The Experimental Animal in Biomedical Research (1989 & 1995), he became known through the film "The Superior Human?" ("The superior man?") In which he argues against the philosophical position advocated by René Descartes , according to which non-human animals are numb and non-thinking machines, for the fact that other animals can think and feel.

In the anthological work The Unheeded Cry. Animal Consciousness, Animal Pain and Science (1989), Rollin recapitulates the scientific discussion about animal consciousness and in particular the pain sensitivity of animals from Charles Darwin to the late 20th century. He analyzes that the interplay of philosophical and historical developments, especially Descartes' denial of the res cogitans in relation to animals and the rise of consciousness-skeptical behaviorism on the one hand, as well as the emancipation and specialization of the individual sciences, including, in particular, psychology , on the other hand, led to an extremely unfavorable starting position for the animals of the 20th century. Scientific folklore proclaimed a complete separation of science and ethics , which completely rejected restrictions in the course and the orientation of research as unscientific and restrictive. At the same time, the behaviorist orientation allowed for decades an at best agnostic , but mostly decidedly negative attitude with regard to any morally relevant properties of non-human animals. This paved the way for the scientists to use animals unrestrictedly and uncontrolled for all kinds of experiments. Rollin points out the absurdity of an attitude of mind that on the one hand asserted for decades with allegedly scientific justification (which was in reality a product of the acceptance of the behaviorist paradigm) that animals are not able to feel pain and therefore can z. B. be subjected to surgical interventions of any kind without the use of analgesics, and on the other hand, experiments carried out on animals are defended as a touchstone for knowledge about humans, especially when it comes to human pain or discomfort.

Rollin has been actively committed to improving the use of animals since the 1970s, particularly in the areas of veterinary medicine and the scientific use of animals. Through his commitment, he achieved far-reaching improvements in the use of laboratory animals at many universities and research institutions. Rollin is widely recognized as a philosophical speaker on the subject of animal ethics - in the medical, scientific, political and animal rights - / animal welfare areas and is an advisory member of numerous committees. He argues for an appropriate moral status of animals, which have mostly been neglected in the history of philosophy, and demands that animals should be able to live according to their species-specific telos . In Putting the Horse before Descartes. My Life's Work on Behalf of Animals (2011) describes Rollin in detail his role in gradually improving the position of animals in the scientific, medical and political context.

Fonts

• Bernard E Rollin: Natural and conventional meaning: An examination of the distinction . Mouton, 1976, ISBN 9027932743 .
• Bernard E. Rollin: The Teaching of Responsibility . Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), December 1983, ISBN 0900767332 .
• Bernard E. Rollin: The Experimental Animal in Biomedical Research: A Survey of Scientific and Ethical Issues for Investigators, Volume I , 1st Edition, CRC Press, August 27, 1990, ISBN 0849349818 .
• Bernard E. Rollin: Farm Animal Welfare: School, Bioethical, and Research Issues , 1st Edition, Iowa State Press, January 15, 1995, ISBN 0813825636 .
• Bernard E. Rollin: The Frankenstein Syndrome: Ethical and Social Issues in the Genetic Engineering of Animals . Cambridge University Press, June 30, 1995, ISBN 0521478073 .
• Bernard Rollin: The Unheeded Cry , 1st edition, Wiley, May 11, 1999, ISBN 081382575X .
• David W. Ramey, Bernard E. Rollin: Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine Considered , 1st Edition, Wiley-Blackwell, November 17, 2003, ISBN 0813826160 .
• G. John Benson, Bernard E. Rollin: The Well-Being of Farm Animals: Challenges and Solutions , 1st edition, Wiley-Blackwell, January 19, 2004, ISBN 0813804736 .
• Bernard E. Rollin: Science and Ethics . Cambridge University Press, March 27, 2006, ISBN 0521674182 .
• Bernard E. Rollin: An Introduction to Veterinary Medical Ethics: Theory And Cases, Second Edition , 2nd Edition, Wiley-Blackwell, June 23, 2006, ISBN 0813803993 .
• Bernard E. Rollin: Animal Rights & Human Morality , 3rd Edition, Prometheus Books, September 30, 2006, ISBN 1591024218 .

Web links

• Contact information at Colorado State University.