1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910814474003321

Autore

Fudge Erica

Titolo

Pets / / Erica Fudge

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York : , : Routledge, , 2014

ISBN

1-317-48853-9

1-317-48854-7

1-315-71030-7

1-282-94743-5

9786612947438

1-84465-425-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (vii, 119 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

The art of living series

Disciplina

179.3 22

Soggetti

Animals (Philosophy)

Pets - Philosophy

Human beings

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

First published 2008 by Acumen.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction; 1. Living with pets; 2. Thinking with pets; 3. Being with pets; Conclusion; Further Reading.

Sommario/riassunto

Why do we live with pets? Is there something more to our relationship with them than simply companionship? What is it we look for in our pets and what does this say about us as human beings? In this fascinating book, Erica Fudge explores the nature of this most complex of relationships and the difficulties of knowing what it is that one is living with when one chooses to share a home with an animal. Fudge argues that our capacity for compassion and ability to live alongside others is evident in our relationships with our pets, those paradoxical creatures who give us a sense of comfort and security while simultaneously troubling the categories human and animal. For what is a pet if it isn’t a fully-fledged member of the human family? This book proposes that by crossing over these boundaries pets help construct who it is we think we are. Drawing on the works of modern writers, such as J. M. Coetzee, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and Jacques Derrida,



Fudge shows how pets have been used to think with and to undermine our easy conceptions of human, animal and home. Indeed, Pets shows our obsession with domestic animals reveals many of the paradoxes, contradictions and ambiguities of life. Living with pets provides thought-provoking perspectives on our notions of possession and mastery, mutuality and cohabitation, love and dominance. We might think of pets as simply happy, loved additions to human homes but as this captivating book reveals perhaps it is the pets that make the home and without pets perhaps we might not be the humans we think we are. For anyone who has ever wondered, like Montaigne, what their cat is thinking, it will be illuminating reading.