REVIEW: ‘The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living a Good Life’ by Mark Rowlands | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
By Kristen Soltis Anderson | The Washington Free Beacon
In Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World, 14-year-old Sophie Amundsen begins receiving mysterious letters from a philosopher, encouraging her to consider deep questions about life, the universe, and what it means to be human. One day, she is tasked with considering the differences between humans and animals, and reflects on the differences between her cat and herself.
Sophie was convinced that her cat, Sherekan, could think. At least, it could be very calculating. But could it reflect on philosophical questions? … A cat could probably be either contented or unhappy, but did it ever ask itself if there was a God or whether it had an immortal soul? Sophie thought that was extremely doubtful.
Sophie is challenged throughout the book to explore these big questions, to not settle for the easy contentment of blissful ignorance, or what Socrates might call “the unexamined life.” And yet philosopher Mark Rowlands, in The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living A Good Life, suggests that it might just be that lack of examination that makes our lovable pups as capable of feeling joy at the simplest of things.
Americans are increasingly crazy about their pets. I don’t say this in a negative way—I count myself among the crazies. My old Golden Retriever Wally felt like the center of my universe during my years with him. Most American pet owners view their pet as part of the family “as much as a human member,” according to the Pew Research Center. For all the brouhaha over “childless cat ladies” in the last election, there is some evidence that suggests Millennial women without kids outright prefer the company of their pets to children.
Rowlands, too, is crazy about his beloved dog, Shadow, and it is initially through Shadow’s imagined experience of the world that Rowlands reflects on how we humans might learn a thing or two from dogs. Shadow is a German Shepherd, a 100-pound East German immigrant with an aggressive streak. Rowlands describes himself as the sort of dog owner who only really goes to dog-friendly restaurants, who brings his dog to his lectures at the university where he teaches, who can’t bear the thought of boarding his dog at a kennel to go on a vacation.
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