So human an animal
Subtitle: how we are shaped by surroundings and events
By: René Dubos ; with a new introduction by Jill Cooper & David Mechanic.
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 1998
Place of publication: New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A
Language: eng
Number of pages: 267
Subjects: Human ecology.; Human beings -- Effect of environment on.; Technology and civilization.
Description: 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 limit, 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. 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-257) and index.
Originally published: New York : Scribner, 1968.