Feline Philosophy
Cats and the Meaning of Life
Published on 28. October 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
128 pages
978-0-14-198842-9 (ISBN)
Description
'Why can't a human be more like a cat? That is the question threaded through this vivid patchwork of philosophy, fiction, history and memoir ... a wonderful mixture of flippancy and profundity, astringency and tenderness, wit and lament' Jane O'Grady, Daily Telegraph
'When I play with my cat, how do I know she is not passing time with me rather than I with her?' Montaigne
There is no real evidence that humans ever 'domesticated' cats. Rather, it seems that at some point cats saw the potential value to themselves of humans. John Gray's wonderful new book is an attempt to get to grips with the philosophical and moral issues around the uniquely strange relationship between ourselves and these remarkable animals.
Feline Philosophy draws on centuries of philosophy, from Montaigne to Schopenhauer, to explore the complex and intimate links that have defined how we react to and behave with this most unlikely 'pet'.
At the heart of the book is a sense of gratitude towards cats as perhaps the species that more than any other - in the essential loneliness of our position in the world - gives us a sense of our own animal nature.
'When I play with my cat, how do I know she is not passing time with me rather than I with her?' Montaigne
There is no real evidence that humans ever 'domesticated' cats. Rather, it seems that at some point cats saw the potential value to themselves of humans. John Gray's wonderful new book is an attempt to get to grips with the philosophical and moral issues around the uniquely strange relationship between ourselves and these remarkable animals.
Feline Philosophy draws on centuries of philosophy, from Montaigne to Schopenhauer, to explore the complex and intimate links that have defined how we react to and behave with this most unlikely 'pet'.
At the heart of the book is a sense of gratitude towards cats as perhaps the species that more than any other - in the essential loneliness of our position in the world - gives us a sense of our own animal nature.
Reviews / Votes
The intellectual cat's pyjamas ... Gray's is the perfect book for the estranging oddness of the pandemic. -- Tim Adams * The Observer * Why can't a human be more like a cat? That is the question threaded through this vivid patchwork of philosophy, fiction, history and memoir ... Feline Philosophy is a wonderful mixture of flippancy and profundity, astringency and tenderness, wit and lament. -- Jane O'Grady * Daily Telegraph * Engaging, amusing, perceptive and untimely, in the most admirable Nietzschean sense. -- Mark Rowlands * New Statesman * An elegant philosophical study of the good life ... one of the most important thinkers alive ... It's a mark of the book's subtlety that you're not quite sure how seriously to take him. -- James Marriott * The Times * A scratching, spitting, and finally purring tour de force. -- Will SelfMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 193 mm
Width: 124 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
102 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-198842-9 (9780141988429)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2020
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€9.49
Available for download
Person
John Gray's most recent book is the highly praised Seven Types of Atheism; his other books include Straw Dogs, Black Mass, The Soul of the Marionette and The Silence of Animals. He has kept feline companions for over thirty years.