How do animals perceive the world? What does it in point of fact feel like to be a cat, or a dog?
In Understanding Animals, Lars Svendsen investigates how humans can attempt to take note the lives of other animals. The book delves into animal communication, intelligence, self-awareness, loneliness and grief, but most fundamentally how humans and animals can cohabit and build a type of friendship. Svendsen provides examples from various animal species, from chimpanzees to octopus, but his main center of attention is on cats and dogs ― the animals that many people are with reference to in our day by day lives.
Using both philosophical analysis and the up to date scientific discoveries, Svendsen argues that an owner’s relationship with their pet is as equally valid and insightful as the scientific study of human-animal relations. With this entertaining and thought-provoking book, animal-lovers and pet owners will gain a deeper understanding of what it’s like to be an animal, and in turn, a human.
