ABSTRACT
Throughout the 20th century the notion that science is independent of value judgments in general, and ethical judgments in particular, has been so dominant that the author ha characterized it as a fundamental principle of “scientific ideology,” or “The Common Sense of Science,” for it is to science what ordinary common sense is to ordinary experience. One cannot channel-surf across normal television service without being bombarded with animal stories, real and fictional. The rise of concern with the treatment of animals is also pretty much coextensive with the rise of concern for the environment, and with societal concern for the disenfranchised—women, African-Americans, the handicapped, migratory workers and so on. Indeed, many of the leaders in the animal movement cut their teeth in campaigns for civil rights, migratory workers, and other people traditionally socially ignored. It is unquestionable that appeal to an animal’s nature captures the essence of what society worries about in animal use.
