The Moral Lives of Animals
Release date: 2011 / 290 pages
Synopsis (from the back cover): …Wild elephants walking along a trail stop and spontaneously come to the aid of a weak and dying fellow elephant. Laboratory rats, finding other rats caged nearby in experimentally induced distress, proceed to rescue them. A chimpanzee in a zoo loses his own life trying to save an unrelated infant who has fallen into a watery moat. These examples and numerous others, argues Dale Peterson, suggest that many of our fellow creatures have powerful impulses toward cooperation, generosity, and fairness — in a word, morality. Yet it is commonly held that we Homo Sapiens are the only species with a moral sense, and that morality is what separates us from ‘the animals.’
First Sentence: Elephants can be dangerous.
Review: I can imagine the assumptions that must pass through the minds of many readers when they see the title of this work. Twenty-four years ago, in one of my very first college courses (Intro to Philosophy), I first learned about the concept of “animal rights” through the persuasive writings of Peter Singer: I haven’t eaten meat since that day. So, when I was approached to read Peterson’s work, I expected to be transported back to that classroom, once again grappling with difficult cognitive and emotional dilemmas, forced to confront what humans have wrought upon the animal world.
Instead, I found an imminently readable, thoroughly non-judgmental, and approachably enjoyable peek into how and possibly why animals behave the way they do. He begins with how words and language shape our experiences and presents three ways humans have historically thought about animals. The First Way, during medieval times, was a “vision of animal minds as intelligent entities constructed in a humanoid form.” The Second Way descends from Descartes’ assertion that “mind and body are strictly distinct entities, and that, since only humans have been given immortal souls, only humans have minds.” Peterson proposes a Third Way which “allows for the existence of animal minds, but it considers them alien minds — alien, that is, from human minds… and looks for both real similarity, between human and animal minds, and genuine disimilarity.” From this premise he embarks on a journey to explore those “alien minds” in their similarity (empathy, grief, kindness) and disimilarity with our own minds. He believes humans possess a “Darwinian narcissism” — “the evolved inclination of all organisms to orient themselves to their own kind.”
However, our human relationship with animals is refreshingly not the focus of Peterson’s musings. Instead, he explores how various animals — from dogs to chimpanzees to birds — navigate such issues as authority, violence, sex, possession, communication, cooperation, and kindness. He references human morals and rules mostly to provide context for what he and others have observed in the animal world:
Emotionally, you and I are most fully attached to other humans. Psychologically, we recognize ourselves as being human, and we continually seek the company of other humans to interact with, to love, hate, emulate, scorn, or studiously be indifferent to… [For example]… if I go to the dog park with my two dogs and let them run around with other dogs, I prefer talking to the dog owners. I won’t get down on all fours and commune woofily and sniffiliy with the dogs, who have their own world to be narcissistically engaged in. At the same time, though, I’m fascinated by animals, and I care deeply about animals of all kinds. I even suspect I have moral feelings about them. How did that happen? Why should I care? …isn’t morality about being good, about loving thy neighbor as thyself, about helping little old ladies across the street and all the rest? Here we are reminded of a peculiar twist in the morality of humans. The human species includes among its temperamental qualities the powerful hostile social groups, where each side is capable of seeing the other with a nearly reversed set of feelings and values. This reversal is one of the clearest indicators of war: Where one side places its won individual warriors’ actions at the very topof the list of positive morality even as the other side sees the same individuals’ actions at the very bottom of thier list of negative morality. When such feelings and perceptions are expressed in language, we learn that the heroes and freedowm fighters and martyrs of one side are actually identified as killers and thugs and terrorists by the other… Morality tends to focus its values at the level of the community, and the moral psychology of our own species brings to human communities a capacity for high levels of xenophobia, where individuals from one group can fiercely and even reasonably hate and fear the individuals of another.
I loved reading this and was surprised to find it a “page turner.” Although I did love philosophy as an undergrad, as an adult I do not usually choose to read books of this nature. But my recent experiences of embracing a two dog household for the first time, as well as moving my two mares to a new boarding stable complete with stallions, has provided daily real world illustrations of how the animals in my own “family” navigate concepts such as authority, cooperation, and affection.
However, I am convinced that readers who do not normally read philosophy, or have no intention of becoming a vegetarian, but are simply fascinated by how and why both wild and domestic animals conduct themselves would truly enjoy this. I also think it would be a great choice for a book club — sure to spark LOTS of discussion!
Interested in winning a free copy? Drop me a comment below and I will choose a lucky winner by the weekend! Here’s more information on Dale Peterson and The Moral Lives of Animals.
I am absolutely fascinated by animals and their ways and would LOVE to win a copy of this book! Thank you!
I’m really grappling with the vegetarian thing lately. I wish I had the moral fortitude to just say I’ll never eat meat again, but it’s not there. Instead, I’m stuck in a torturous space of eating meat and simultaneously feeling guilty and repulsed and yet compelled to continue. I would love to read this book, especially if it helps me to transition forward. Thanks so much for your wonderful review and for the chance to win a copy.
geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com
Amazing review.. makes me want to read this. It goes along with a book a read a few years back.. Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City, by Anne Matthews. This, too, is worth a read as it describes what has happened as nature is pushed away as cities expand.
Marianne
I’ve been a vegetarian for fourteen years. I would love to read this book! I would love for my family to read it too! Thank you!
Such an interesting theme!! I would love to have the opportunity to read this book. Winning it would be great but I will keep the title in mind for a future look if I don’t win.
I’d love to win a copy for my TBR pile, and then to donate to my library!
I would LOVE to read this one! Thanks for another great book idea and a chance at winning a copy!
This title sounds terrific! I, too, discovered Peter Singer many years ago and it led me in the same direction. Another unforgettable title is DOMINION.
Thanks for the opportunity to win this book.
Sounds like a great read! Please count me in for this giveaway!
Thanks for another chance to win a great book to read.
Animals are my passion. This book is one that would truely fascinate me. I just finished The Mind of the Raven and this would compliment it so.
Love! Please include me.
Thanks for making me aware of this book. I would love to read this and even if I don’t win, it’s going on my TBR list!
I love the sounds of this book. Just the way it starts… Elephants can be dangerous. That is awesome. While I have not read the book.. obviously since I am wanting to win it… it sounds like your review did the book justice.
This books sounds fascinating; thanks for your insightful review and the chance to win a copy!
I enjoy reading about animals. Thanks for the giveaway!
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net