In the Company of Animals A Study of Human-Animal Relationships [Paperback]

The relationships between humans, animals and the natural world across history and between cultures.Contrasting the way we love some animals while ruthlessly exploiting others, this study provides a detailed and fascinating account of the ways in which animal companionship can influence our health. It provides a key to the moral contradiction inherent in our treatment of animals and nature.Contrasting the way we love some animals while ruthlessly exploiting others, this study provides a detailed and fascinating account of the ways in which animal companionship can influence our health. It provides a key to the moral contradiction inherent in our treatment of animals and nature.In the Company of Animals is an original and very readable study of human attitudes to the natural world. It contrasts the way we love some animals while ruthlessly exploiting others; it provides a detailed and fascinating account of ways in which animal companionship can influence our health; and it provides a key to understanding the moral contradictions inherent in our treatment of animals and nature. Its scope encompasses history, anthropology, and animal and human psychology. Along the way, the author uncovers a fascinating trail of insights and myths about our relationship with the species with which we share the planet. James Serpell is the editor of The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behavior and Interactions With People (CUP, 1995).Part I. A Paradox: 1. Of pigs and pets; Part II. The Case Against Pets: 2. Substitutes for people; 3. Instruments of follie; 4. Pets in tribal societies; 5. A cuckoo in the nest; Part III. An Alternative View: 6. Pets as panacea; 7. Health and friendship; 8. Four-legged friends; Part IV. Exploitation and Sympathy: A Conflict of Interests: 9. The myth of human supremacy; 10. Killer with a conscience; 11. Licensed to kill; 12. The fall from grace. Arguing by copious example in a thoroughly well-researched and well-written book, Serpell demonstrates that pet-kl³%