THE PHILOSOPHER’S DOG

The moral conundrums of the human-animal bond.

Few readers will be able to resist the moving episodes from an Australian childhood Gaita (Philosophy/Kings College London; A Common Humanity, not reviewed, etc.) initially relates, based largely on his father’s natural affection and affinity for animals in general and, specifically, house pets Jack the cockatoo and Orloff the dog. Tender and affecting, they are economically rendered with obvious sincerity. But—and there are hints this is coming—this is not about letting us off easy with misty, sentimental recollections about the animals in our lives. Readers must join a forced march into intellectual battle with the major paradoxes and contradictions of those so-called bonds and how society tends to buffer them. It’s not just confronting the idea of “mass murder” of animals for food, clothing, and convenience, for example, but why fish, cows, and chickens have to die to feed your pet cat. Really, why? While many of these philosophical forays are spun out of the author’s close ties with animals, some digress considerably, as does a longish chapter on how the challenges and dangers of mountaineering as a hobby shaped his contemplations on life and reality—somewhat redeemed by a stunning anecdote from the writings of famed Alpinist Walter Bonatti on finding a butterfly dying in the snow at high altitude. A consistent undercurrent plumbs the nature of animals as “sensate” creatures, as when Gaita states: “It is obvious why our understanding of animals should be informed by rigorous, controlled observation which is cautious in coming to conclusions.” But even this, he insists, must be mediated by philosophical inquiry. Science can’t decide whether chimps use language, for example, unless we fully establish and agree on what constitutes language.

Therapy for people who are grieving pets, and a litmus test for self-professed nature lovers.