Creatures Like Us?

Book excerpt: As a child brought up among animals, Lynne Sharpe never doubted they were essentially 'creatures like us'. It came as a shock to learn that others did not agree. Here she exposes the bizarre way in which many philosophers - including even some great and humane ones - have repeatedly talked and written about animals. They have discussed the topic in terms of non-existent abstract 'animals', conceived as defective humans, entirely neglecting the experience of people who have wide practical knowledge of companion animals - such as horses and dogs - through working with them. She testifies to the interesting nature of these creatures' lives, noting that the usual narrow approach to animals carries with it also a distorted notion of human life as essentially cerebral and language-centred.