The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living a Good Life (Hardcover)
Description
“[A]n entertaining and affectionate exploration of dogs and their distinctive mode of being." —Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post
“This is a book everyone interested in animals and philosophy must read." —John Gray, author of The New Leviathans and Feline Philosophy
“Rowlands has written a profound and funny examination of what it means to be fulfilled.” —Tim Dowling, Guardian
“Wise, profound, often very funny I loved every page." —Anthony McGowan, author of How to Teach Philosophy to Your Dog
If you have spent any part of your life with a dog, you may have found certain questions popping, unbidden, into your mind: Is my dog living a fulfilled life? Is my dog a good dog? Does my dog love me? Addressing these questions compels you to confront not just your dog’s life but yours as well—to think about what fulfillment, and meaning, in life really is.
In The Word of Dog, philosopher Mark Rowlands explores these questions and suggests that in dogs we can see hints—faint, shrouded, but discernible—of what a better way of living might look like. Perhaps none of us can be happy in the way a dog can, but The Word of Dog shows us we could do a lot better than we’re doing simply by listening to the unspoken wisdom our dogs reveal to us every day of their happy, uncomplicated lives.
About the Author
Mark Rowlands is professor and chair of the philosophy department at the University of Miami. He is the author of twenty-three books, including the international bestseller The Philosopher and the Wolf. He lives in Miami, Florida.
Praise For…
Dogs, Mr. Rowlands argues—by way of several deeply moving and lyrically written accounts of his own dogs, especially his German Shepherd, Shadow—have access to a kind of joy and immediacy we humans do not . . . An engagingly written primer to some of the major questions of the discipline, deftly avoiding impenetrable jargon and simplistic reductions.
— Tara Isabella Burton - Wall Street Journal
A charming confirmation of my heretofore inchoate suspicion that Kafka is infinitely better than I am. . . . Indeed, dogs are often better moral agents than we are. As Rowlands points out, they never make resolutions that they fail to keep; they never ask why they are running after squirrels or realize, to their chagrin, that there is no definitive reason to prefer hunting to herding or Frisbee. They are never paralyzed by indecision, despair or existential malaise. When they see their cherished humans in danger or they perceive a squirrel scurrying by, they act without a moment’s hesitation. . . . [A]n entertaining and affectionate exploration of dogs and their distinctive mode of being.
— Becca Rothfeld - Washington Post
Rowlands... offers not so much revelations of the inner workings of our faithful companions, but a philosophical message on how we can live a more fulfilling life inspired by the unselfish joy dogs experience—even in repetitive tasks such as chasing a ball.
— Caroline Howe - New York Post
In his new book, Mark Rowlands argues the case that a dog’s capacity for joy, for meaning, for wholesale commitment to being, far exceeds that of humans. A professor of philosophy and a serial dog owner, Rowlands has written a profound and funny examination of what it means to be fulfilled, both for canines and humans. By the end, you will envy your dog’s every waking moment…You don’t need to be a dog lover—or even a dog owner—to enjoy this book, but it helps. That way, when you’re standing in the garden at five o’clock in the morning, watching a tiny dog bark at a broom instead of attending to its toilet, you can think: well, at least one of us is happy.
— Tim Dowling - Guardian
The message from this gentle and compelling book is that in times of moral quandary we could do worse than ask: what would a dog do?
— Michael Prodger - New Statesman
In his bestseller The Philosopher and the Wolf, Mark Rowlands explored his experience of living with a wolf for more than a decade to question narrowly human understandings of the good life. In The Word of Dog, he suggests that the lives of dogs can be more fulfilling and meaningful than human lives. Writing with zest, humor, and passion, Rowlands blends delightful vignettes of his beloved dogs with fresh and radical answers to some of the oldest questions in ethics. This is a book everyone interested in animals and philosophy must read.
— John Gray, author of The New Leviathans and Feline Philosophy
The Word of Dog is one of the most engaging and enjoyable works on philosophy (and, for that matter, dogs) I’ve ever read. Wise, profound, often very funny—I loved every page.
— Anthony McGowan, author of How to Teach Philosophy to Your Dog
