Abstract
Animal improvement and human improvement do not have the same status, nor do they have the same goal. Human improvement supposedly aims to increase the wellbeing and health of individuals by acting on their appearance, their mental or physical capacities, their emotional state, in ways the subject desires, with a view to what they consider to be a better life. The objective of animal improvement has never been to make the life and well-being of animals better; it is rather to improve the characteristics of animals that are useful to humans. These points are explored by retracing the main stages of animal improvement in France since the 18th century and its present aims as determined by the law on breeding of 28 December 1966.
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© 2015 Florence Burgat
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Burgat, F. (2015). Improving Animals, Improving Humans: Transpositions and Comparisons. In: Bateman, S., Gayon, J., Allouche, S., Goffette, J., Marzano, M. (eds) Inquiring into Animal Enhancement: Model or Countermodel of Human Enhancement?. Health, Technology and Society. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137542472_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137542472_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
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