Our Animal Natures

Seeing too much of ourselves in other animals might not be the problem we think it is. Underappreciating our own animal natures may be the greater limitation.

 

My medical education included stern warnings against the tantalizing pull to anthropomorphize. In those days, noticing pain or sadness on the face of an animal was criticized as projection, fantasy, or sloppy sentimentality. But scientific advancements of the past two decades suggest that we should adopt an updated perspective. Seeing too much of ourselves in other animals might not be the problem we think it is. Underappreciating our own animal natures may be the greater limitation.

 

This weekend the New York Times featured an opinion piece on the medical similarities between Humans and our animal counter-parts. It’s a truly fascinating, enjoyable, and Animal-Architecturally pertinent  piece. Enjoy!

 

You May Also Like
Read More

Animal House

Animal House is an ideas-based competition in which entrants are asked to design a ‘house’ for a domestic animal of their choice. The program’s intent is for each participant to develop a contemporary shelter design addressing spatial requirements of non-human species in a fresh & appealing way.
Read More

On Farming

This March Bracket Magazine (Brkt) will launch their first inaugural publication titled "On Farming." The Magazine will be launched on line and in print format. The exact details of the publication are not currently available but there is a pretty cool list of contributing authors and essays. It, honestly, looks super cool.
Read More

Between Human and Animal

The space of greatest tension between human and animal is the domestic territory of the house. Suburbs are therefore at the front line of the confrontation between humans and synanthropic animals. As woodlots and agrarian landscape are converted into residential communities, highly adaptive animals seek out new habitat opportunities.

The Animal Art of Shannon Partridge

The principle of ‘behavioural enrichment’ is an animal husbandry tactic deployed to enhance the lives of captive animals, provoking thought and encouraging activity, by introducing variant stimuli to their otherwise static environments.