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Title: When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals
ISBN: 0385314256
Author:
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
Susan McCarthy
Publicate Date: 1995-05-01
Publish: 1995-05-01
List Price: $23.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $2.25
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Loved it ... .but too anthropomorphic
Jeffrey Moussaieff's book offered a nice range of examples on various emotions. I enjoyed reading it, but I thought that some of the examples were questionable and displayed too much of an anthropomorphic view of animals.
I strongly believe that animals do have emotions. It wouldn't even be conceivable to me that they would just live without any emotions. Jeffrey goes a long way in proving that they do, using a variety of examples. However, I'm not sure about who the reader for this book is. Is it the people who already know that animals have emotions and love them so much that they wanted to read and learn more about it? Or is it the person who doesn't have a clue about it, nor cares to know? I would say the former.
He has great points and I enjoyed reading it. Some great stories and eye opening facts.
I would highly recommend it.
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2: Wasted potential
I wanted a book with evidence of animal emotions, not some guy trying to make me feel guilty for not being a vegan. I already believe that animals have emotions, but I almost wanted to argue against it just because this book was so horrible. Find a book without so much bias, this author is a little crazy. Comparing hunting to rape? Come on now, that's stupid enough to be HIGHLY offensive. Masson is severely disconnected from reality, someone needs to go through the bibliography, pick out the relevant stuff and write a book with some value.
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3: interesting premise, poor delivery
The scientific community has long denied that non-human animals have any emotions; many pet owners and other sorts of caretakers would beg to differ. This statement forms the basis for Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson's and Susan McCarthy's When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals. From this, Masson and McCarthy set out to prove to the reader that non-human animals do, indeed, feel emotions, particularly in ways humans can understand or relate to, even if the feelings may not be exactly the same (which the authors do admit would be incredibly difficult, probably impossible, to ever find out). Based on their emotions, highlighting joy and suffering, the authors employ what seems to be the basis of Peter Singer's utilitarian argument - animals can be happy or miserable - to argue for Tom Regan's concept of animal rights - that they should have them, and we should respect them.
The premise of the books is appealing and the title is effective and intriguing - many people would like some acknowledgment that their pets are happy or sad when appropriate, and not merely `displaying behavior.' However, for the reader that hopes for a bit more out of this topic, it may be better to look elsewhere.
Masson and McCarthy rely heavily on anecdotes from scientific reports and field observations. They criticize heavily those who say that anecdotes are useless examples of anthropomorphism, or the projecting of human traits onto non-human animals. Masson and McCarthy claim that anthropomorphism is not as big of a problem as the scientific community has made it out to be; rather, it shows a connection with the animals we are studying and is likely to be more accurate that simply stating that an animal is only displaying a certain kind of behavior.
Most of the book is anecdote after anecdote, organized into chapters by groupings of emotions, such as "Grief, Sadness, and the Bones of Elephants," and "Compassion, Rescue, and the Altruism Debate." Most of these stories are asides in longer research articles, or stories from animal owners, trainers, zookeepers, and the like. The authors make a persuasive argument in favor of taking seriously these anecdotes, but that is soon lost once it becomes clear that the entire book is nothing but `interesting stories,' about a paragraph each. Interspersed with these anecdotes is criticism after criticism of the scientific community and of humanity at large, claiming as a whole that scientists, terrified of being accused of anthropomorphism or simply cold-hearted, deny at every turn any possibility that any animal could feel anything, going all the way back to Rene Descartes. Descartes set the standard for the Western attitude toward non-human animals, claiming that they were mere machines, programmed to have responses resembling emotions but that really, they felt no pain or joy. If any of the descriptions of modern-day experiments that the authors provided are even remotely accurate, then Descartes has left too-lasting of an impact.
However, the scientific community is unlikely to be quite the straw man that Masson and McCarthy have set it up to be. While the authors use a few famous scientists' works in a positive way, such as Jane Goodall and Roger Fouts, most of the references to science are about how cold, unfeeling, and in denial the scientific community is, making grand statements about how all of science is determined to blot out animal emotions in an effort to keep humans up at the top. Indeed, the second chapter, devoted to the scientific community, is entitled "Unfeeling Brutes."
Masson and McCarthy make little use of scientific observations or experiments specifically designed to study animal emotion (though the book was written twelve years ago, and perhaps there was not as much out there). They also make little use of solid arguments or stylish prose, opting instead for a stilted read of unsupported but passionate arguments in favor of animal rights based on the idea of animals' emotions. Unfortunately, any sort of clear argument is left until the ten-page conclusion, in which Masson quickly summarizes the past thirty years of mainstream animal activism, quoting Jeremy Bentham, Peter Singer, and Tom Regan, as well as the famous story of Androcles and the lion who refused to attack him.
The ultimate moral of the book, delivered quickly at the end, is in the vein of Tom Regan - animals have rights, too, because they can feel joy and pain, and all human-caused suffering must end. A noble cause, an excellent premise into an interesting topic, poorly delivered.
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4: Everyone Should Read this Book
What a wonderful book! Although I am an admitted 'animal person' I think everyone would (and should) enjoy reading this book for a perspective on life on our planet.
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5: insightful and well researched
My interest in this book is in learning more about animal cognition, behavior, training, etc.
It was a good read. I finished it in just a few days. The stories were varied and colorful. Clearly the author did a lot of research in creating the book.
It is pretty well balanced in the sense you don't have to be an extreme animal rights person to appreciate it.
The only reason I couldn't give 5 starts is that it lacked a bottom line. There were all these wonderful stories about what animals did, but I went away wondering what conclusions to draw. Or at least end the book with some philosophical questions that keep me thinking?
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