A Collection of True Tales of Animal Empathy and Altruism that will Inspire Us to Reflect on Our Own Human NatureWhat do stories about humpback whales protecting a biologist from a shark, a pride of lions rescuing a girl from kidnappers, gorillas working together to dismantle poacher snares, a parrot warding off an attacker in a park, a chimpanzee consoling a human, and an elephant trying to rescue a baby rhino tell us about animal nature? And what might they sugge...

**“[A]n entertaining and affectionate exploration of dogs and their distinctive mode of being." —Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post“This is a book everyone interested in animals and philosophy must read." —John Gray, author of The New Leviathans and Feline Philosophy“Rowlands has written a profound and funny examination of what it means to be fulfilled.” —Tim Dowling, Guardian“Wise, profound, often very funny I loved every page." —An...

Framed by the story of a son finding his late father's journal, a meditation on love, meaning, and morality by the author of The Philosopher and the Wolf.Myshkin was born on a certain day and died on a certain day—and some things happened to him in between. These things presented him with ethical questions, and this book is a record of his attempt to answer those questions.Discovered in 2054 by his son after Myshkin's death in the Florida Keys,

A fresh view of animals and what we owe them.Do animals have moral standing? Do they count, morally speaking? In Animal Rights, Mark Rowlands argues that they do and explores the implications of this idea. He identifies three different waves in animal rights writing. The first wave was defined by a traditional dispute between utilitarianism (represented by Peter Singer) and rights-based approaches (represented by Tom Regan) to ethics. The second wave was d...

The idea that our memories, in some sense, make us who we are, is a common one-and not at all implausible. After all, what could make us who we are if not the things we have experienced, thought, felt and desired on these idiosyncratic pathways through space and time that we call lives? And how can we retain these experiences, thoughts, feelings and desires if not through memory? On the other hand, most of what we have experienced has been forgotten. And there is now a considerable body of...

Mark Rowlands presents a novel analysis of three epoch-defining environmental problems: climate, extinction, and pestilence. Our climate is changing at a rate that is unprecedented and, if unchecked, disastrous. Species are disappearing hundreds or thousands of times faster than normal. COVID-19 has wreaked social and economic havoc but is merely the latest off a blossoming production line of emerging infectious diseases, many of which have the potential to be fa...

A brilliant journey through the nature of memory, helping us understand how what is lost—and what is remembered—shapes who we are.In this revelatory and intimate exploration of the way memory works, Mark Rowalds, author of The Philosopher and the Wolf, reveals how memories aren’t fixed. They soften and consolidate—and are distorted—each time we revisit them, even those memories most deeply engrained. The way we call on memory is closer to a "negotiation wi...

Myshkin was born on a certain day and died on a certain day - and some things happened to him in between. These things presented him with ethical questions and this book is a record of his attempt to answer those questions. Discovered by his son after Myshkin's death, A Good Life is one man's reckoning with the life he has led and the choices he made. It is at once a philosophical handbook for living and a page-turning narrative.A Good Life is one man's life (birt...

The charming and poignant story of the relationship between a philosophy professor and his pet wolf.Mark Rowlands was a young philosophy professor, rootless and searching for life’s greater meaning. Shortly after arriving at the University of Alabama, he noticed a classified ad in the local paper advertising wolf cubs for sale and decided he had to investigate, if only out of curiosity. It was love at first sight, and the bond that grew between philosopher and wolf...

An investigation into the conceptual foundations of a new way of thinking about the mind that does not locate all cognition "in the head."There is a new way of thinking about the mind that does not locate mental processes exclusively "in the head." Some think that this expanded conception of the mind will be the basis of a new science of the mind. In this book, leading philosopher Mark Rowlands investigates the conceptual foundations of this new science of the mind...

The charming and poignant story of the relationship between a philosophy professor and his pet wolf.Mark Rowlands was a young philosophy professor, rootless and searching for life’s greater meaning. Shortly after arriving at the University of Alabama, he noticed a classified ad in the local paper advertising wolf cubs for sale, and decided he had to investigate, if only out of curiosity. It was love at first sight, and the bond that grew between philosopher and wol...

It is commonly held that our thoughts, beliefs, desires and feelings - the mental phenomena that we instantiate - are constituted by states and processes that occur inside our head. The view known as externalism, however, denies that mental phenomena are internal in this sense. The mind is not purely in the head. Mental phenomena are hybrid entities that straddle both internal state and processes and things occurring in the outside world. The development of externalist conceptions of the m...