Overview

"At least until cloning becomes the order of the day, Rene Dubos contends that each human being is unique, unprecedented, unrepeatable. However, today each person faces the critical danger of losing this very humanness to his mechanized surroundings. Most people spend their days in a confusion of concrete and steel, trapped ""in the midst of noise, dirt, ugliness and absurdity."" So begins the essential message of the work of one of the great figures in microbiology and experimental pathology of this century.Is the human species becoming dehumanized by the condition of his environment? So Human an Animal is an attempt to address this broad concern, and explain why so little is being done to address this issue. The book sounds both an urgent warning, and offers important policy insights into how this trend towards dehumanization can be halted and 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 Hmit, the development of human potential. Yet we are 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. As Joseph Wood Krutch noted at the time, Dubos shows convincingly ""why science is indispensable, not omnipotent."" Science'can change our suicidal course by learning to deal analytically with the living experience of human beings, by supplementing the knowledge of things and 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 and action. Timely, eloquent, and guided by a deep humanistic spirit, this new edition is graced by a succinct and careful outline of the life and work of the author."

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9780765804297

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<p> 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. <p> --Solomon H. Katz, American Scientist

Dr. Dubos' work as a microbiologist and his philosophical writings have always stressed the importance of studying interactions - the dynamic interplay - whether between microbe and cell, or man and society. He was an ecologist long before the word assumed its present vogue. In this work he expresses concern for the future of man given the pressures of population, pollution, and the meaningless or harmful detritus of an over technicized society. These forces work against the uniqeness of the individual and there is a real danger that man's social evolution could be altered by powers of selection which favor individuals more easily regimented, more noise-and smell-proof. Dr. Dubos sympathizes with today's youthful rebels but argues for a positive program: let science apply its techniques and methods to studying the shapes of space, the needs of sensitive man; find out which are the ingredients of the environment most harmful or destructive; which can be encouraged both pre- and post-natally to bring about the fullest expression of man's personal uniqueness and freedom. The range of Dubos' references - Charles Abrams or Jane Jacobs on one page, Martin Bub?? or Jack London on another - and his felicity of style make for pleasurable and stimulating reading. (Kirkus Reviews)

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Waddington, C. H.

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