The Philosopher’s Dog

In this marvellous book Raimond Gaita tells stories about dogs and cats, bees and butterflies.

Many of these stories describe animals he has known: Jack the cockatoo, Gypsy the dog and Tosca the street-wise cat. In focusing on them and others, in the context of family life, Gaita asks questions about how animals think and feel.

What does Gypsy think about when she sits on her mat gazing out to sea? Is it mistaken to attribute the concepts of love, devotion, loyalty, grief, bravery or friendship to animals? Why do we care so much for some creatures and so little for others? Gaita’s discussion ranges from writers such as ]. M. Coetzee and Hannah Arendt to philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and René Descartes. In offering a different way of thinking about animals, he suggests that it is love which gives us the best model for the respect we owe them.

Filled with inspirational stories, with reflections on how we respond to everything from spiders to mountains, The Philosopher’s Dog is moving, sometimes funny, and always thought-provoking.