How To Teach Philosophy To Your Dog

by Anthony McGowan

'We're doing philosophy now, and that means following the argument wherever it leads, like that time you chased a rabbit and ended up with your head stuck in a hole.'

Monty was just like any other dog. A scruffy and irascible Maltese terrier, he enjoyed barking at pugs and sniffing at trees. But after yet another dramatic confrontation with the local rottweiler, Anthony McGowan realises it's high time he and Monty had a chat about what makes him a good or a bad dog.

Taking his lead from Monty's canine antics, McGowan takes us on a hilarious and enlightening jaunt through the major debates of philosophy. Will Kant convince Monty to stop stealing cheesecake? How long will they put up with Socrates poking holes in every argument? In this uniquely entertaining take on morality and ethics, the dutiful duo set out to uncover who - if anyone - has the right end of the ethical stick and can tell us how best to live one's life.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Dogs, Unfinished, Audiobook

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Anthony John McGowan is an English author of books for children, teenagers and adults. He is the winner of the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal for Lark. In addition to his 2020 win, he has been twice longlisted (for The Knife That Killed Me in 2008 and Brock in 2014) and once shortlisted (for Rook in 2018) for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, and is the winner of the 2006 Booktrust Teenage Prize for Henry Tumour.

Reviews

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’m trying here, but I’ve only got a little doggy brain.” - Monty the dog ( and me)

This is adorable! Can I call a book on philosophy adorable? Well, Monty, the Maltese terrier, makes it so!
Maybe it should be alarming to me how Monty, the dog, always asks the questions that are on my mind and asks for explanations in “ doggy language” when the concepts are getting to be too abstract ! But I am happy that he’s there to guide me !

I highly recommend this book to anyone who, just like me, knows next to nothing about Western philosophy but wants to learn more.
It’s a fun and very accessible introductory book on the subject.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first return to philosophy on a systematic basis since I left uni 50 years ago. I enjoyed the return very much. The conceit of the book is the author’s using Monty his dog for his dialogues and it works well. He covers the whole world of philosophy in the right depth for the general reader. You can do no better than this book if you want to re-stimulate your mind. I did try the technique on my dog, JK, but he is an unshakeable epicurean Labrador.

[Emmkay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific little introduction to Western philosophy. McGowan goes on a series of walks with his dog, Monty, a Maltese terrier (note: NOT as pictured in the cover art! I'm a cat person, but even I can tell that's not a Maltese terrier), systematically explaining to his pooch how philosophers have grappled with questions of ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of science, and the meaning of life. Big stuff, but doggo seemed up for it (some very intelligent interjections, Monty!), so I tried to keep up as well. There's gentle humour, good explanations, and some poignancy. I really liked it, and think I'll buy a copy, so that when I feel up for it I can return to some of the bits that my slowish brain had trouble grasping. 4.5.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like philosophy. I like dogs. And this is well done.

[Girish Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable. I love it. I've had my hands on couple of books on Philosophy before I stumbled upon How to Teach Philosophy to Your Dog. It was through a YouTube video where someone had recommended it and the name and the subject of the book caught my fancy. I thought to myself that I surely can't be dumber than a dog. If the author claims he can teach Philosophy to a dog, he could teach me as well.

This book is written in form of dialogues between McGowan and his dog Monty. In each chapter McGowan takes Monty on walks and discusses philosophical ideas ranging from Ethics, Free Will Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, and Meaning of Life. I believe this book gives a painless wholesome introduction to philosophy with humour, it leaves you thinking about the big questions. Monty and I understood that maybe philosophy isn't as good at answering the questions as good it is at asking those questions.

This book had lots of proses which I'd read once and then would want to read again and again to myself and to my friends, I'm quoting few such prose I found at the end of this book. I don't know how but I lost my highlights from first eight chapters of this book and that makes me really sad right now.

Despite the anguish and torment of life, we carry on. It's like a soap bubble, which we blow out as long and as large as we can, even though we know it must burst. Is anything more perfect than a soap bubble, anything that so combines unity, variety and harmony, as great art is supposed to do? Each soap bubble is perfect, yet each one entirely unique. And do they not delight us? Who does not smile as the bubble grows, and sigh a little when it pops? So maybe that's it. We want those who behold — we want them to smile and then to sigh.

'In the novel, Of Human Bondage, by Somerset Maugham there's a point when the hero, Philip Carey, an aspiring artist, is in Paris. A friend gives him an old Persian rug, telling him that it contains the meaning of life. He carries it around with him through the years, never really knowing what the friend, or the carpet, meant. He never quite achieves his aims in life, never quite finds happiness. His love affairs are unsatisfactory at best, tragic at worst. He settles for a career that he never really wanted. Finally, understanding dawns, and he sees what the friend meant by the gift of the rug. The meaning of life is the pattern we weave.'

Huh?

The pattern doesn't point to anything beyond itself. It isn't a sign, or an index or an icon, it's just a play of geometric shapes and colours. Those shapes and colours might be complex and intricate, or might be simple and direct. But we weave it for the joy of weaving, and at the end we find that we've created something beautiful, in the life lived, in the warp and the weft.'

This book has left me wanting to dive deeper into Philosophy and has left with me a good understanding for the subject. I recommend it to those who want to begin with Philosophy.

[Tobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's a rare thing that I listen to a book and then decide that I need to buy it, but I shall be doing exactly that with this book. It does that cleverest of things, explaining very complex matters in very simple terms, making them accessible to all. I won't pretend to have understood even half of it the first time through, but I understood enough to know that repeated readings will make more sense. I also wept buckets at the end, a testimony to the touching anthropomorphism of Monty the dog - no spoilers though.

Read this and enjoy - I certainly did, and will do again.

[YHC · Rating 4 out of 5]

序章
第一次漫步 什么是好狗狗，什么是坏狗狗
第二次漫步 柏拉图、亚里士多德，以及美好生活
第三次漫步 敢于求知，做“对”的事
第四次漫步 给自由找个理由
第五次漫步 逻辑小遛圈
第六次漫步 形而上学101：鸟粪里白白的东西
第七次漫步 把让孟弟生无可恋的型相和共相问题聊完
第八次漫步 你以为你知道的就是你知道的？
第九次漫步 经验论：我就是知道了
第十次漫步 终结者康德
第十一次漫步 科学哲学：蚂蚁派、蜘蛛派、蜜蜂派
最后一次漫步 叔本华的肥皂泡与生命的意义
好吧，之前那次不是最后一次漫步，这次才是

版权归作者所有，任何形式转载请联系作者。
作者：王喆Eggman（来自豆瓣）
来源：https://book.douban.com/review/12988763/


片段一：写分手

即使她已离我而去，即使共同探索的乐趣已如过眼云烟，但我依然发现自己会在人群中寻找假发，寻找顶在一张忧郁的脸上方茂盛、浓密、巧克力色的那团东西，然后我会默默地对自己说：“糖浆”，并黯然神伤……
片段二：写寂寞

天空万里无云，灰得似是而非。映照之下，河流也死气沉沉。奇怪，我寻思，真安静啊。人总会觉得流水是嘈杂的。显然，隆隆的湍流或澎湃的大海确实嘈杂，但你会觉得，即使像里士满的泰晤士河这样一条宽阔而苍凉的河流，也总得发出些声响吧，或汩汩，或潺潺。但我闭上眼睛，却听不到一点水声，耳中只回响着十月枯叶的沙沙声，以及不知从哪里传来的，孩子们的欢笑声。
片段三：写幻灭

生命就像肥皂泡，尽管我们知道它终究会破裂，但我们依然会尽力去吹它，把它吹得大大的……每个泡泡都是完美的，却又是独一无二的。我们难道不会因之而高兴吗？泡泡变大时，谁不微笑；破碎时，谁不叹息？

片段四：写回忆

孩子们小时候很喜欢这个消防站。如果她们乖的话，我就会带她们去那里和消防员打招呼，有时候他们会让孩子们去驾驶室坐一会儿，在她们小小的脑袋扣上大大的黄色头盔。我回想起过去那些年，回想起孟弟成了我们家庭的一分子，恨自己出门怎么傻到连面纸都不带，我抬起手，用袖口擦了擦湿润的眼睛和鼻子。

[Manish · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone who's always grappled with getting a foothold in this subject, McGowan's work was a delight. Using a conversational form (yeah, with his dog), he tackles the basic foundational theories around the key philosophical subjects such as Ethics, Metaphysics, Epistemology etc.
An excellent work to use as a springboard to dive deeper into the subject.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading in 2021 for the Sunday Philosophers


A doggoned good introduction to philosophy, even for humans.
See my Amazon review: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-...

[kilig · Rating 5 out of 5]

蠻好的哲學導讀書。

[Grace Chamberlain (Tegerdine) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun intro to philosophy! It was succinct and easy to understand. I also love Monty haha

[Lieze Van Acker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leuke introductie tot filosofie! Veel info dat op je afkomt maar Monty het hondje maakt het wel iets luchtiger!

[Alina Marcu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philosophy has intrigued me since the first day of my freshman year when my English teacher briefly spoke to us about philosophy. I have always been interested in philosophy but my sophomore U.S. history teacher especially made me question values and important aspects of our lives. As we all want to in life, I want to live my life the very best I can with the very best mindset I can possibly have. I thought and believe it would be helpful to explore more into the big questions of life to get closer to achieving a good, aspiring mindset to achieve my goals in life.

Philosophy is sort of the thing I try to put away and not think about only because it worries me sometimes and makes me feel anxious, but sometimes, you just have to face some things and true reality in order to further your life aspirations. So, when I came across Anthony McGowan's book, How to Teach Philosophy to Your Dog: Exploring the Big Questions in Life, I thought it was a perfect way to get involved with the important things of life. As McGowan went along his journey with his dog, Monty, I thought I can join them with my dog, Max, who is also my bestest friend, as dogs tend to be.

How to Teach Philosophy to Your Dog: Exploring the Big Questions in Life is the narration of a man going through philosophical principles on a series of walks with his dog. Now, the book features commentary from the dog and story-tells as if the man is actually teaching his dog philosophy. Aside from the amazing humorous aspect of the book, the explanations of each philosophy are thoroughly discussed and made easy to understand, as they are meant for the dog. Author, McGowan, makes real life examples to help better understand the philosopher and plenty of analogies from the doggie world.

The philosophies from How to Teach Philosophy, mainly deriving from the traditional Western ones, are sectioned by chapter. McGowan covers philosophers such as Plato, Kant, Machiavelli, and Camus just to name a few. He also greatly discusses the topics of ethics, metaphysics, the philosophy of science, and the meaning of life - a topic especially hard for me and many other people (yet the author executes it and talks about it not too dreadfully. Anthony McGowan teaches these complex, loaded theories through his tactic of easing the phenomenas into the ongoing conversation in simple terms where even dogs could understand, helped me learn so much about them much more effectively and efficiently that did not completely frighten me.

I strongly recommend this book as its content is extremely relevant to our everyday lives and applies to everybody, no matter race, sex, etc., as we are all members of societies with our own lives and experiences. The only reason I give this book a 4 out of 5 rating is because even thought the content is funny and entertaining, sometimes it can lack that component making it a little difficult to continue to read the chapter and finish the section, but I only mean in the sense of putting down the book and continuing off at a different time. In addition, compared to all other books that relate to life and are nonfiction, McGowan was able to tell the tale amusingly. As a result, I think this book is definitely worth the read and even more specifically if you are interested in getting to know and explore significant life questions, like the meaning of life.

[Chris Bowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent general coverage written in an accessible, though at times surprisingly complex style, given the book's title. Seems to largely get the subjects correct: there were a few discrepancies to more detailed and specialised works I've read previously but these were relatively minor. There's a lot to be learned in a fairly short time.

[Lauren Kardosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not really a philosophy person so I never really managed to get into it, really liked the dog though

[Yiwei · Rating 4 out of 5]

被封面上的比格犬和中文译名吸引来的（其实书中是马尔济斯犬）。正如作者在引言所说，这不是一本哲学科普书。书中跟狗狗孟弟的对话很轻松，让我啼笑皆非。虽然是教给狗狗的哲学，但是读者最好还是对常见哲学流派的主张有个基本的概念，不然读起来会无聊。书末给了进阶阅读书单。

[Zala · Rating 4 out of 5]

evil way to end a book

[Cassandra M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very fun way to learn about philosophy. I enjoyed the audiobook.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony McGowan does a Socratic Dialogue with his dog, Monty. McGowan takes his dog on walks and, during these walks, he discusses various aspects of philosophy. The book is an introduction to philosophical ideas. If the book piques your interest enough, the author includes books for further reading.

How to Teach Philosophy to Your Dog is a cute and entertaining introduction to the ideas of philosophy. It focuses on the Western traditions of Philosophy that started with the Greeks. McGowan explains this by telling us that Western Philosophy is where his training lies.

The author lives in London, and I have never been there. He mentions areas around the city, but I don't have any basis to know where he is. Other than that, the book is phenomenal. It doesn't go too deeply into the ideas, so if you read Kant or Schopenhauer already, you probably won't get anything out of the book.

[Aaron Greufe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a love for philosophy, but reading the classics will lose me. This wonderful book hit the perfect spot of making the ideas as accessible as possible and the dog helps! Speaking of the dog, the format of the book is perfect and echoes the Socratic method in a minor way, with a very conversational level of discourse where the dog is a stand-in for the reader. Would recommend to anyone with an interest in philosophy!

[junyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting and easy to read! if you love dogs and philosophy you would love this book

[Nathan Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well done introduction and loads of fun….but fuck you mr author for that fake out ending…I was bawling my eyes out 😂

[Richard Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely introduction to philosophy, which is enhanced by the presence of 'the dog' where some similar tomes are not. Monty emerges as a personality but never detracts from the author's musings. Popular philosophy was very much in vogue about ten years ago but seems to have lessened in appeal lately. (I'd have thought the pandemic would have turned more to philosophy but perhaps people looked for distraction rather than contemplation.) The only surprise for me was the absence of Peter Singer's modern utilitarianism with its look at animal rights, on which I'm sure Monty would have had a lot to say.

[Sweemeng Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't manage to reach my dog anything. I learn a lot from the book though

[Prakhar Ganesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4.5]

Excellent peek into the world of philosophy. Anthony Mcgowan takes on a journey through various branches of philosophy including but not limited to ethics, free will, metaphysics, epistemology and the philosophy of science. The book is well written keeping a layman's perspective in mind and the author does a really good job of presenting a number of influential philosophers as well as theories proposed in western philosophy. I would definitely recommend it, as it will either help you find sub-branches of philosophy that truly interest you, or you can confidently say nothing in the world of philosophy interests you (although I doubt it would be the latter).

It is not a perfect book, and there definitely are a few negatives. For instance, I felt that a few major sub-branches of philosophy that the author almost completely skips like political philosophy, aesthetics, etc. deserved a place in this book. At various instances, the author can be seen fanboying over Kant and does have a bit of bias towards Socrates, Plato, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer etc. However, overall the book does a pretty good job of what it's supposed to be, a 'pamphlet' for the world of philosophy.

[Fabian Mora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo extravagante de la introducción a la filosofía que ofrece este texto son los diálogos con el perro, que resulta ser un personaje muy divertido para ello. Sin embargo, como introducción, le encuentro un par de defectos. El primero de ellos es que a veces puede llegar a confundir la explicación que ofrece de ciertos conceptos, aunque las conversaciones con el perro ayudan mucho, en ocasiones no logra ser del todo claro. El segundo, es que sí su función es ser un texto introductorio, con varios pensadores suele ser bastante más duro y crítico que con otros, cosa que sería comprensible y no estaría del todo mal, a no ser por la forma en que se expresa de sus ideas, la cual llega a ser despectiva. Los dos capítulos finales no me gustaron, queda mucho a deber en uno de los temas más complejos y que mayor interés puede despertar: el sentido de la vida, y la jugarreta que pretende hacer tampoco me agradó.
A favor del libro, y por lo que lo califico con cuatro estrellas, es porque ofrece una lista de lecturas recomendadas para cada capítulo, pero, sobre todo, porque varias cosas me quedaron más claras con la explicación o el enfoque que le da el autor.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

McGowan makes the subject of western philosophy accessible, understandable and even enjoyable. His use of his dog as a foil throughout the book is a work of art, providing opportunities for followups (questions a student or reader may ask), a break in tedious topics, amusing anecdotes and even a heart warming touch. If McGowan wrote a book on other difficult topics like metaphysics, psychology or even astrobiology, I would be in line to buy it.

[Lib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and easy to understand, this is a terrific introduction to philosophy. It covers all the great philosophers and their theories in a series of 'conversations' between the author and his dog, Monty. It made me laugh out loud more than once, and I came away with an actual understanding of philosophical ideas, which is a lot more than my college Intro to Philosophy 101 course managed to do for me.

[Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A breezy, entertaining, and easy-to-read overview of western philosophy. The book is written as a dialogue between the author and his dog, organized into themed walks, where a particular topic or philosophical subfield is chosen and discussed at length.

I think this is a great introduction for anybody interested in taking a dip into philosophy. The author does a good job showing how ideas, theories, and answers within a philosophical subfield develop over time. In particular, I really enjoyed the epistemological walks, he does a good job of making philosophers like Hume and Kant very digestible and showing how the ideas in the field developed over time and across different thinkers. I only wish that he covered some more contemporary thinkers, like Foucault, Chomsky, or Sartre, but I figured that he didn't have any good way to fit them into the existing walks.

[Stephen Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, or one like it, should be on every “intro to philosophy” course syllabus. It’s light and humorous while still tackling the difficult ideas that so often get taken for granted or dismissed completely. McGowan acts as a sort of interpreter between academic philosophy and the general populace which plays out as a conversation with Monty, the Maltese, but could, in reality, be a discussion with any curious student wishing to pull back the curtain on “the big questions.” No offense intended in the comparison with Monty either. Now, I imagine trying to sell my former ancient philosophy professor on such a “paradigm shift” or ze German modern philosophy professor, and my ontological insecurity grows exponentially.