Home > Encyclopedia of Science > Vivisection

• Early history
• Scientific use of animals
• Words to Know
• The case for experimentation
• The case against experimentation

Vivisection (pronounced vih-vih-SEK-shun) literally means the dissection or cutting of a living animal. The term has come to apply to any and all types of experiments on live animals, and it is a term to which many scientists object. People who believe that humans have no right to perform any type of experiments on animals are sometimes called antivivisectionists, although they can be more properly described as animal rights activists.

Early history

Humans have been using animals for their own purposes probably from the earliest times, and some would say that...