The often cruel beginings of man thinking he is above all other creatures while inflicting pain and suffering in the quest to discover more about science. Research and philosophy intertwined in this book in relation to discovering that cephalopods are beings with thoughts and plans and "emotional" reactions. Fight and flight. 
This book does a good job at not going too too deeply into the minutiae of either science or philosophy but walks the line of both to keep things flowing and interesting.