Welcome to The Ethics Blog from the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB)!
We comment the debate on research ethics and bioethics and discuss our research. We address issues from current debate in the research community and in the press. Some posts are only for your information, others are more reflective, but our goal is always dialogue. A lot of the content deals with our own research. Right now we are focusing on biobanks and health care, but more will come!
Pär Segerdahl is the editor and writes about his own and other’s research. He is a philosopher and in the last couple of years his research has focused on the language of apes, animal welfare and gender. Other researchers from CRB will appear as guest editors from time to time, and you can always contact us at crb@crb.uu.se.
We write for researchers, health care staff, officials, politicians, patient organizations and anyone who is interested in ethics!
We welcome comments on this blog, but please do not post anything containing inappropriate language, personal attacks, confidential personal data or copyright material. Material that violates Swedish law or is off topic will be removed.
Would you like to get in touch with us but not through the blog? Send an e-mail to crb@crb.uu.se or visit our website, www.crb.uu.se.
This blog has been developed with support from BBMRI.se where the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics are responsible for a work package on ethical and legal issues in biobanking.
Hi Prof. Pär Segerdahl,
Hello! SoundEagle is delighted to stumbled upon your blog and be acquainted with you and your work here. Since your “research has focused on the language of apes, animal welfare and gender”, please allow SoundEagle the liberty for commenting as follows:
Interspecies interactions and communications are special in that they can and tend to transcend many boundaries and expectations imposed by human customs and belief systems. Perhaps you have heard of or studied such disciplines as zoo-anthropology or anthrozoology?
What do you think of the writings of David Abram, specifically his book entitled “Becoming Animal”?
To what degree does your research entail seeing animals outside of the box of human expectations or ideas that humans have about “utility” (not necessarily limited or pertaining to the utilitarian perspective or paradigm)?
How do you find Frans de Waal’s book “The Ape and the Sushi Master”, which argues that animals are capable of forming and developing cultures and complex societies?
Would you agree and/or recommend that we could learn a great deal about ourselves and Nature via the notion of “Biophilia” as first proposed by Edward O Wilson?
Thank you for writing, SoundEagle. I’m struggling with precisely the questions you’re asking: what it means to write about animals; whether Frans de Waal understands human-enculturated apes like Kanzi, and what kind of human/animal divide the best forms of ape language research unmake. Perhaps this post could be of interest:
http://ethicsblog.crb.uu.se/2012/01/13/trapped-in-our-humanity/
I had not heard about David Abraham’s book, thank you for informing me!