The things a dog cannot know.

A dog is enclosed in its dogness, its doggitude, and cannot get outside that. The cleverest dog that ever existed can do and understand only what it is possible for a dog to do and understand.โ€ฆ Anyone who claimed of any natural creature apart from ourselves that it is capable, in principle, of understanding anything whatsoever would be talking obvious nonsense.โ€ฆ Whatever our origin, how could limitations imposed on us by our nature not be untranscendable? Yet if it is so, it almost certainly means that there are whole universes of unknowability for us, just as there are for dogs, dolphins, orangutans, and every other living creature. The sort of reasons why most of reality lies permanently outside โ€œthe ken of a dog, a dolphin, or an orangutan apply by parity of reasoning to us.

— Bryan Magee
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One response to “The things a dog cannot know.”

  1. I know this and accept it, but I will pretend that our Ms Frizzle is capable of so much more. It’s here simplicity in life that keeps us in awe and laughter and deserving of belly rubs and our adoration.

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