Without Animals Life Is Not Worth Living

Book excerpt: In Without Animals Life Is Not Worth Living, eco-philosopher Freya Mathews livens up her theme - that the company of animals is indispensable to human existence - by way of the story of an anarchic but irresistible pig. 'In this captivating story of a pig and a philosopher, Freya takes up the narratival mode of exposition that has recently engaged philosophers. Her account of Pookie tells of a human person's love across a huge species boundary. Few pigs have been so fondly and respectfully brought into print. Freya's philosophical commitment to truth leads her into unfashionable conclusions: pigs are not particularly intelligent, she tells us. On the basis of life with Pookie, she finds pigs to be determined, focussed and insistent, but not demonstrably smart. Having made that point, Freya goes on to provide a vivid account of Pookie's actual sentience: her sense of self, her joy, her determination, her later dejection, and her capacity for remembrance.' - Deborah Bird Rose