Rollin's book is an invaluable aid to the animal rights or animal welfare advocate because he approaches the issues with the dispassionate rationality that scientists drape around their attitudes, seizing the "intellectual high ground" from teary-eyed bunny huggers. Rollin is no bunny hugger, and his critique of the inconsistencies and contradictions in the utilitarian and behaviorist views of our relationship with the other animals is crisp, logical, and devastating.
As he makes clear, loathing for the inhumane may make us feel good, but it doesn't go far in changing things. The book is dry going, as Rollin moves from John Rawls to Jeremy Bentham, with a substantial portion of the text devoted to specific failings of the Animal Welfare Act and a detailed examination of the principles of animal testing. Like a visit to the dentist or an afternoon with the vacuum, it's not necessarily much fun. You won't find a lot of heartwarming stories about sensitive elephants here -- not that those are bad things.
What you will find is a legislative agenda, an outline for community action, and an arsenal of reasoned arguments to counter the exploiters of animals. It would be nice to think that we can turn the food industry technicians and scientific researchers with a question as simple as, "Would you do it to your dog?" For many of them, that may be enough. It's the rest for whom Rollin offers us strategies. Social ethics are murky, in that we may "know" what's right, but we can't explain what we know or how to those that don't get it. Read Rollin, and the explanations will be clear.
