So Human an Animal - Hardcover

Dubos, Rene.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0246640219 ISBN 13: 9780246640215

Publisher: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1970

Synopsis

Is the human species becoming dehumanized by the condition of our environment? So Human an Animal is an attempt to address this broad concern & explain why so little is being done to address this issue. The book sounds both an urgent warning & offers important policy insights into how this trend towards dehumanization can be halted & finally reversed. Dubos asserts that we are as much the product of our total environment as of our genetic endowment. In fact, the environment we live in can greatly enhance, or severely limit, the development of human potential. Yet we're deplorably ignorant of the effects of our surroundings on human life. We create conditions which can only thwart human nature. So Human an Animal is a book with hope no less than alarm. Science can change our suicidal course by learning to deal analytically with the living experience of humans, by supplementing the knowledge of things & of the body machine with a science of human life. Only then can we give larger scope to human freedom by providing a rational basis for option & action.
The unbelievable future
Man's nature & human history
Biological remembrance of things past
The living experience
The pursuit of significance
The science of humanity

About this title

About the Author

René Dubos was professor at The Rockefeller University in New York. He was a celebrated microbiologist and experimental pathologist. He was the first to demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining germ-fighting drugs from microbes. Among his many writings are So Human an Animal, The Torch of Life, and The Unseen World.

Review

“This is an important work that should be read and pondered by all scientists. Dubos’ basic message is that our scientifically directed technology is choking and stifling our very humanity and unless we as scientists redirect much of our attention and work into a humanistic framework our humanity will surely disappear. This is a powerful message. . . . [This] is an exciting and provocative book by an eminent writer and scientist that strongly suggests the need and way toward highly increased involvement of humanistic goals for science and technology.”

—Solomon H. Katz, American Scientist

Edition details

• Publisher: Rupert Hart-Davis
• Publication date: 1970
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0246640219
• ISBN 13: 9780246640215
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 267