Pleasurable Kingdom

Animal behaviour expert, Dr Jonathan Balcombe, combines rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes to show that that animals, like humans, enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous struggle for survival and suggests that creatures feel good thanks to play, sex, food, comfort and more.

Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good. Now in paperback, this book focuses on new evidence that animals, like humans, enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival.

Autorentext

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Jonathan Balcombe** is Animal Behaviour Research Consultant for the Washington DC-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and the author of The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives and Recommendations. He lives in Washington DC.

Klappentext

Pleasurable Kingdom presents new evidence that animals--like humans--enjoy themselves. From birds to baboons, insects to iguanas, animals feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdotes, leading animal behavior researcher Jonathan Balcombe shows that the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ethical ramifications for both science and society. For more information please visit the author's website at www.pleasurablekingdom.com

Inhalt

PART I: WHY ANIMAL PLEASURE * Survival of the Happiest: The Adaptive Basis for Pleasure * Forbidden Pleasures: our Reluctance to Acknowledge Animal Pleasure * Feeling Smart: The Intelligence of Pleasure * PART II: WHAT ANIMAL PLEASURE * Play: Fun for Its Own Sake * Food: The Pleasures of Sustenance * Sex: Procreation and Recreation * Touch: Making Contact with Pleasure * Love: The Ripening Warmth of Intimacy * Other Pleasures: Esthetics, Humor and Beyond * From Flies to Fish: At the Margins of Pleasure * PART III: FROM ANIMAL PLEASURE * Feeling Good, Doing Good: Implications of a Pleasurable Kingdom * NOTES, REFERENCES, FURTHER READING