: Bernhard J. Schmidt
: DOGmatism New Perspectives on Humans, Dogs and Culture
: Books on Demand
: 9783756280070
: 1
: CHF 13.20
:
: Gesellschaft
: English
: 164
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
Over centuries, dogmas have emerged in our culture that stand in the way of understanding both ourselves and our dogs. If we remove these dogmas and if we can perceive ourselves for what we are, namely domesticated pack animals, then living together with our dogs will also become understandable. As a cross-species cooperation, which is more the rule than the exception in nature. The dog is no longer perceived as a behavioristic machine, but as a social partner with whom we have much more in common than was previously perceived. The difference - due to our unique selling point"consciousness" - to our dogs is much smaller than previously assumed. To a large extent, the behavior of humans and dogs are very similar. Above all, similarly complex, diverse and fascinating.

Born in 1962 in Dortmund, Germany, Studied philosophy, psychology and neurophysiology Science and social psychologist

2. INTRODUCTION


If you want to gain knowledge about yourself as a person, there are three possibilities. On the one hand, you can observe yourself and your fellow species and test how psychology does it. But this approach has a big problem.

„Die große Schwierigkeit jeder Menschenbetrachtung liegt darin, dass wir, die Beobachter also, selbst Menschen sind; daß unser Gehirn, als Werkzeug der Beobachtung, selbst Gegenstand dieser Beobachtung ist. Wir sind von Jugend an von Menschen umgeben, so daß uns die Gesellschaft und alles, was sie uns aufprägt, recht selbstverständlich vorkommt. Es ist uns beinahe unmöglich, uns über dieses so Selbstverständliche zu wundern, es aus einer anderen, unbeeinflußten Blickrichtung zu sehen, aus uns selbst herauszutreten ... uns selbst fremd zu werden.“ (Hass 1968)1

On the other hand, we can also deal with our closest relatives, the great apes, as, for example, Wolfgang Köhler did. However, the great apes have the disadvantage that our last common ancestors lived a very long time ago. And monkeys and humans have lived little to no life together. The population of monkeys is limited to a few habitats. The third possibility is to look at the dog and, above all, our relationship with the dog. After all, we have lived with dogs for a very long time and have adapted to each other. The wolf came to man at a time, and that is often overlooked, when a very high selection pressure weighed on both man and wolf. Errors in behavior or a lack of adaptation, i.e., among other things, a lack of learning, were immediately"punished" by the selection. And it is because of our preference for artifacts that we attach our development as humans to stone, iron and bronze ... and not to immaterial advances. These include, for example, mastery of fire, cooperation with wolves, as well as the development of language, writing and numbers - all as cultural aids.

For an understanding of our common development, i.e. of wolf / dog and human, it is also necessary to leave the transfigurations of nature that have been spread through many films, especially by the Disney Studios. Even if people started breeding dogs late, from the end of the 19th century, it is very likely that they selected them very early, by killing, drowning, eating ... And this as a supplement to the natural selection, from which both humans and wolves / dogs were affected. If we want to understand each other, then we have to understand how we develop together with dogs. And if we want