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Düşünen Hayvanlar
Buzda kayan bufalolar, düş kuran fareler, mutlu tilkiler, kederli yunuslar, kendilerini bitkilerle tedavi eden şempanzeler, ölen arkadaşları için yas tutan filler... Hayvanların duygusal ve düşünsel dünyasında heyecan verici bir yolculuk.
Prof. Marc Bekoff hayvanlar hakkında, kur yapmaktan dedikoduya, kendi kendini tedaviden beslenme alışkanlıklarına, düş görmekten egemenlik ve çiftleşme davranışlarına kadar uzanan büyüleyici öyküler anlatıyor. Ama bu kitap bir ilginç hayvan öyküleri antolojisi değil. Bekoff okurlarını hayvan zekâsı ve bilinci konusunda düşünmeye sevk ediyor ve hayvanlarla ilgili pek çok önemli konuya ışık tutuyor. Daha da önemlisi bütün hayvanlara karşı sevgi, saygı ve şefkat duygularının geçerli olduğu yeni bir alçak gönüllü yaşam anlayışı öneriyor.
Prof. Marc Bekoff hayvanlar hakkında, kur yapmaktan dedikoduya, kendi kendini tedaviden beslenme alışkanlıklarına, düş görmekten egemenlik ve çiftleşme davranışlarına kadar uzanan büyüleyici öyküler anlatıyor. Ama bu kitap bir ilginç hayvan öyküleri antolojisi değil. Bekoff okurlarını hayvan zekâsı ve bilinci konusunda düşünmeye sevk ediyor ve hayvanlarla ilgili pek çok önemli konuya ışık tutuyor. Daha da önemlisi bütün hayvanlara karşı sevgi, saygı ve şefkat duygularının geçerli olduğu yeni bir alçak gönüllü yaşam anlayışı öneriyor.
308 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 2002
9 people are currently reading
268 people want to read
About the author
Marc Bekoff
72 books251 followersPlease see http://www.literati.net/authors/marc-... and you can read my essays for Psychology Today here -- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/a... --
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 21, 2018
Like someone said in a past review, this gets five stars for importance. "There is enough in the world for everybody's needs, but not enough for anybody's greed". Love all living things!🌿
July 29, 2014
A fascinating study of animal consciousness by a scientist who has studied animals and birds of all kinds for many years. He intersperses first hand accounts of his own experiences and encounters with animals with observations of other experts in the field and scientific explorations of theories around the mental and emotional lives of animals.
As someone who loves animals, I've always believed their emotional lives are every bit as rich as ours, albeit in ways that are unique to each individual breed. It astonishes me that there there should be any question around whether or not animals experience emotion, feel pain are capable of suffering etc., but there are those who still seek to deny animals those capacities. As Bekoff reiterates many times in his book however, it is a mistake to over-anthropomorphise our conception of animals - their experiences are not ours but are none the less valid for that.
It was interesting reading this book straight after Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" which addresses the question of animals in terms of how we use them to produce food, in which he remarks “whether our interest in eating animals outweighs their interest in not being eaten … ultimately turns on the vexed question of animal suffering". Pollan concludes that although there can be little doubt that animals experience suffering, it is impossible to ever know the extent or nature of that suffering. He warns against projecting human characteristics onto non-human beings, and uses as an example the experience of watching a steer force marched up a ramp to the killing floor, suggesting we would be wrong to attribute any consciousness of impending doom to the animal, in the same way we would if it was a man going to his execution. Animals however have a highly developed sensory nervous system as Bekoff points out and it seems to me too self-serving to conclude that they would remain oblivious to the scent of fear, blood and death that must pervade such a scene.
Bekoff's book doesn't offer any sweeping conclusions or revelations but it is a strong reminder that regardless of our views on whether or not animals have emotionally meaningful lives, we have a responsibility to treat them with compassion and respect.
As someone who loves animals, I've always believed their emotional lives are every bit as rich as ours, albeit in ways that are unique to each individual breed. It astonishes me that there there should be any question around whether or not animals experience emotion, feel pain are capable of suffering etc., but there are those who still seek to deny animals those capacities. As Bekoff reiterates many times in his book however, it is a mistake to over-anthropomorphise our conception of animals - their experiences are not ours but are none the less valid for that.
It was interesting reading this book straight after Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" which addresses the question of animals in terms of how we use them to produce food, in which he remarks “whether our interest in eating animals outweighs their interest in not being eaten … ultimately turns on the vexed question of animal suffering". Pollan concludes that although there can be little doubt that animals experience suffering, it is impossible to ever know the extent or nature of that suffering. He warns against projecting human characteristics onto non-human beings, and uses as an example the experience of watching a steer force marched up a ramp to the killing floor, suggesting we would be wrong to attribute any consciousness of impending doom to the animal, in the same way we would if it was a man going to his execution. Animals however have a highly developed sensory nervous system as Bekoff points out and it seems to me too self-serving to conclude that they would remain oblivious to the scent of fear, blood and death that must pervade such a scene.
Bekoff's book doesn't offer any sweeping conclusions or revelations but it is a strong reminder that regardless of our views on whether or not animals have emotionally meaningful lives, we have a responsibility to treat them with compassion and respect.
April 2, 2016
This book gets five stars for importance. There were some places where I couldn't quite agree with Bekoff, simply because of living in a world where evolution rules, but this book started me drinking soy milk and thinking once again about how people fit into the ecosystem. This is a compelling account of animal emotions and minds, and, more importantly, becoming aware of how humans should--yes, should--fit into the ecosystem. It's not our planet. An important reminder that people owe far more to animals than we tend to admit. More thoughts may be found on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
March 29, 2025
Some beautiful ideas and insights; from the contents of this book I think Marc Bekoff is a great guy with great ideas. I just hated the work’s (lack of) structure; it was just a series of ideas and anecdotes and didn’t have any direction.
December 8, 2024
Un libro non di facile lettura, ma indispensabile per chi voglia essere parte del cambiamento di cui questo nostro povero mondo ha più che mai ora bisogno.
September 26, 2014
This is a discussion of animal ethics for scientists. The author goes pretty far in his advocacy for animal rights, essentially saying that animals are no different than children or the mentally handicapped in terms of their rights and our responsibilities. That approach-- treating animals as persons-- has some serious problems. We protect children from each other. If we took his arguments seriously, wouldn't we have to protect animals from the pain inflicted on them by other animals? Unfortunately, he simply preaches his positions and doesn't try to tackle the hard questions that arise from them.
It made me think I should consciously act as a consumer to eat less meat and avoid causing unnecessary pain to animals. I'm very interested in brain research, but I don't think we have the right to cut open living animals no matter what it can teach us. Someday, eventually, science will find a way to learn the same thing without inflicting the injury.
It made me think I should consciously act as a consumer to eat less meat and avoid causing unnecessary pain to animals. I'm very interested in brain research, but I don't think we have the right to cut open living animals no matter what it can teach us. Someday, eventually, science will find a way to learn the same thing without inflicting the injury.
April 15, 2010
The book was okay but compared to other books ive read on the subject I found it somewhat lacking. When describing and analyzing experiments and other data he skimmed over it very quickly and left out key points in them and he also usually only gave one point of view on how to interpret the results. I suggest reading wild minds by marc d. hauser if you want a more in dept and non biased view
Want to read
November 28, 2008Need to get this one.
April 23, 2009
Marc writes feelingly about the "feelings" of animals -- another book that will have you reassess your thoughts about animals and how we treat them!
January 7, 2010
it was good. not as good as i expected, mostly because i was expecting more about his encounters with animals over how he feels about them. but it was informative and inspiring :)
decided-not-to-read
October 13, 2008The structure of this book annoyed me too much for me to want to keep reading it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews