The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living a Good Life
According to Mark Rowlands, a professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Miami, a dog’s life is more meaningful than a dog owner’s life. In his book, “The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living a Good Life,” Rowlands argues that dogs love their lives with everything they have because it is all they have. He contends that dogs have no capacity for reflection, but they do have pre-reflection, which allows them to experience pleasure in the smallest acts.
Rowlands uses his own experiences with his dog, Shadow, to illustrate his point. Shadow, a German shepherd, has no awareness of the impact on his environment when he starts fights with other dogs or marks occupied park benches. He is simply willing to repeat a game, such as chasing sunbathing iguanas, every morning with great joy.
Rowlands believes that dogs are both actors and authors of their lives, and not spectators or critics like humans. He interprets meaning in life as authentic happiness, and argues that the lives of dogs are typically more meaningful and filled with more love than the lives of humans. This is because dogs are not burdened by reflection and have only one life to live.
Rowlands concludes that there is more meaning in a dog’s life than a human’s because humans have been fractured by reflection into two lives of dubious compatibility. He believes that if one wants to know the meaning of life, they should get a dog, as dogs lead “more meaningful lives than we do.”
