I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
theguardian.com
I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
1–10 of 102 posts
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#2Thank you to bring this up.
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#3[flagged]
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#4The post contains a pretty strong assertion that dogs cannot perform mental reflection:
> In the authentic happiness Shadow finds in the most banal of activities, his commitment to life and action is one that we humans find so hard to emulate. This is because of something that happened to us: a great schism in consciousness that we know as reflection. We humans are the world heavyweight champions of thinking about ourselves, scrutinising and evaluating what we do and why we do it.
> This schism breaks us in two. Henceforth we are all divided into one who thinks and one who is thought about; one who sees and one who is seen; one who reflects and one who is reflected upon. This bifurcation in our consciousness robs us of the possibility of a certain type of happiness, the happiness that accompanies being whole. Shadow is whole in a way that a human can never be.
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> Being undivided by reflection, being whole and entire, a dog has only one life to live, whereas we – in whom reflection’s canyon is deepest – have two. For us, there is both the life that we live and the life that we think about, scrutinise, evaluate and judge.
It's one thing to assert that a philosophy of living in the moment may be good for people, something completely different to assert that dogs are incapable of living otherwise.
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#5I like the author's positive outlook on life. Because when I see a dog act like that, especially in a family where a child has taken focus, I mostly see a prisoner longing for freedom.
Me and my dog have been exclusive for almost a decade now. We have traveled across europe, always by my side. Off leash even, I have always wanted to give my dog the most freedom possible. To heck with human rules.
I've mostly worked remotely during my dog's entire life, so I've always been there, and we've always been able to take a long walk outside.
But at the end of the day we have to go home, and I have to fall asleep on the couch after dinner, and I have to work for hours and hours from home, or remote workspaces.
So even with all the freedom my dog enjoys, I still feel like it would want more. We have lived in houses with yards, and my dog has lazily spent every single moment outside, in the sun, in the grass. But I still feel like it's insufficient.
I have claimed this dog as mine, so it goes where I go, not where it wants to go.
If my dog could decide it would have probably died a harsh death in the streets a long time ago. But the dog doesn't understand that. I believe a dog values freedom more than its immediate personal safety.
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#6The post contains a pretty strong assertion that dogs cannot perform mental reflection: > In the authentic happiness Shadow finds in the most banal of activities, his commitment to life and action is one that we humans find so hard to emulate. This is because of something that happened to us: a great schism in consciousness that we know as reflection. We humans are the world heavyweight champions of thinking about ou…
Is there any evidence that dogs can perform mental reflection?
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#7I like the author's positive outlook on life. Because when I see a dog act like that, especially in a family where a child has taken focus, I mostly see a prisoner longing for freedom. Me and my dog have been exclusive for almost a decade now. We have traveled across europe, always by my side. Off leash even, I have always wanted to give my dog the most freedom possible. To heck with human rules. I've mostly worked r…
> I believe a dog values freedom more than its immediate personal safety.
Why do you believe that? Bear in mind that our domesticated dogs of today are very different from their wild ancestors (or from wolves, their closest wild relatives).
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#8I like the author's positive outlook on life. Because when I see a dog act like that, especially in a family where a child has taken focus, I mostly see a prisoner longing for freedom. Me and my dog have been exclusive for almost a decade now. We have traveled across europe, always by my side. Off leash even, I have always wanted to give my dog the most freedom possible. To heck with human rules. I've mostly worked r…
> I believe a dog values freedom more than its immediate personal safety
Think you're underestimating how much your dog probably likes you...
Dogs have a different relationship to their owner than people do with their best friends or parents.
It's like the best parts of each relationship wrapped into one for dogs.
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#9I like the author's positive outlook on life. Because when I see a dog act like that, especially in a family where a child has taken focus, I mostly see a prisoner longing for freedom. Me and my dog have been exclusive for almost a decade now. We have traveled across europe, always by my side. Off leash even, I have always wanted to give my dog the most freedom possible. To heck with human rules. I've mostly worked r…
I think you're right that for a dog to live its best life it needs the ability to spend a lot of time outdoors with relative freedom. Our labrador had the chance to live like that in an excessively very large garden for his last 4 years. I'm glad he got that, I think it made his life much better. Looking back, when he stayed with us in an apartment he must've been depressed.
Re: I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
#10The post contains a pretty strong assertion that dogs cannot perform mental reflection: > In the authentic happiness Shadow finds in the most banal of activities, his commitment to life and action is one that we humans find so hard to emulate. This is because of something that happened to us: a great schism in consciousness that we know as reflection. We humans are the world heavyweight champions of thinking about ou…
Seems like a fair assertion to me, accepting the fact that we have no way (yet?) of proving it one way or the other. Just from observing any animal I think the default assumption is that we're the only ones who ruminate about our own selves the way we do.