Pavlov's Dogs and Schrödinger's Cat

by Rom Harré

• ISBN13: 9780191553486
• ISBN10: 0191553484
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2009-02-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Academic UK

Summary

From the sheep, dog, and cockerel that were sent aloft in Montgolfier's balloon to test the air over Paris, to the famous clone Dolly the Sheep and the Darwinian finches of the Galapagos, Pavlov's Dogs and Schr?dinger's Cat offers a fascinating and enlightening look at the use of plants and animals--including humans--in scientific experiments. Rom Harr? here provides a fresh and fascinating perspective on research, setting aside moral reflection to simply examine the history of how and why living creatures have been used for the purposes of discovery. Ranging over five centuries, the book uncovers many extraordinary stories, including tales of the people involved, to many curious incidents and episodes, and the occasional scientific fraud. From Gregor Mendel's use of pea plants to explore heredity, to Barry Marshall's use of himself as the experimental animal in his helicobacter experiments (he survived) and even the use of an imaginary cat in Schr?dinger's famous thought experiment, the reader discovers here a perspective on scientific work he or she has never encountered before--the concept of the "living laboratory."

Author Biography

Rom Harr? is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Linacre College, Oxford, and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, Washington, DC.