Professor Mark Rowlands argues in his new book that dogs lead more meaningful lives than humans due to their lack of self-reflective awareness. He draws comparisons to the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre and uses anecdotes about his own dog, Shadow, to illustrate his point.
Chew on this: A dog’s life — even if that means joyfully and endlessly chasing squirrels — is more meaningful than a dog owner’s life, asserts Mark Rowlands, professor, and chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Miami, in his latest meditation on the inherent happiness of our canine companions.
Instead, Rowlands leans on the deep and dour philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre to answer those questions, and to decipher the unspoken wisdom dogs exhibit. Rowlands writes that his “distinctly dangerous” German shepherd, Shadow — whose soaring testosterone bans him from peaceful dog parks — has no awareness of the impact on his environment when he starts fights with every male dog, assaults females, or marks an occupied park bench by urinating on it, thus Shadow’s lack of reflection keeps him out of polite society.
Rowlands contends that dogs are both actors and authors of their lives and not spectators, or critics, unlike humans, who are creatures of reflection and doubt that in time can possibly riddle one with cancer. The author interprets meaning in life as authentic happiness and that the lives of dogs are typically more meaningful and filled with more love than the lives of humans because they are not burdened by reflection and have only one life to live.
“Meaning in life exists wherever happiness erupts from nature. If you want to know the meaning of life, get a dog,” Rowland concludes, because dogs lead “more meaningful lives than we do . . . Working out why this is so — is what this book is all about.”Army refuses to identify female Black Hawk pilot killed in DC collision
Animals DOG HAPPINESS MEANING LIFE PHILOSOPHY
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