Is our knowledge of the symbiotic relationship between man and dog more
important than our knowledge of the teachings of, say, Popper and Grice?
Many would say that it is. Many like Gaston Phebus have argued that it is -
at least I would assume Phebus would say that if he had all the words that
we have today. With genetic research telling us that Canis Familiaris (the
"familiaris" pertaining to its being a familiar of Humans) mitochondrial DNA
(peculiar to canis familiaris) originated at about the same time as that of
humans - with lots of pluses and minuses, but long enough ago to demonstrate
that we grew up together as species.
It isn't hard to find articles on this matter, e.g.,
http://www.sciforums.com/threads/is-the-relationship-between-humans-and-dogs
-classed-as-symbiotic.29993/ Dr. Lou Natic, the writer of this particular
article (in one of the forums on Sciforums.com) presents one argument I
hadn't read before: "No other animal has the in built peace of mind to sleep
like they're in a coma for 8 hours, we can do this because we evolved with
dogs watching our backs."
How important is it that we as a species were able to sleep for 8 hours
unworried about a predator sneaking up on is while we did so? Natic writes
"The common misconception that is generally assumed with the historical
induction of canines in to human society, is that they started scavenging on
the fringes of our successful cities and we felt sorry for their puppy dog
eyes and let them join us.
"But we couldn't be more wrong. It's more likely that we owe these cities to
dogs. It is only recently that dogs have been anything other than hard
working partners helping us survive in countless ways. Who knows exactly how
big a role dogs played in our evolution? What would we be if we never had
the time and peace of mind to comfortably dream? Well I for one am not
confident sciforums would exist for starters, it seems unlikely the written
word would even exist."
Natic concludes, "For many people owning a dog is more than a decision they
make, its an instinctual unexplainable urge. They feel empty without one.
Probably similar to the feeling a clown fish with no anemone to rest in has,
or the itch that the ox with no oxpecker's endures.
"Some people don't want a dog at all, but are they really human according to
the homo-sapien standard? Well not really, they are more like a modern
off-shoot, that perhaps could be referred to as the traitor-sapien."
Lawrence
