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基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2006. The first trade book to focus 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. Instead it suggests that creatures from birds to bats to baboons may feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics and more.
Full Description
Pleasurable Kingdom marshalls the latest evidence that animals, like humans, enjoy themselves. It debunks the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival. Instead it suggests that creatures from birds to bats to baboons may feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics and more. Combining rigorous evidence, elegant argument and amusing anecdote, leading animal behaviour researcher Dr Jonathan Balcombe proposes that evolution favours sensory rewards because they drive living things to stay alive and reproduce. Animal pain and stress, once controversial, are now acknowledged by legislation in many countries. Likewise the possibility of positive feelings in creatures other than humans has important ramifications for science and society and is thus ripe for informed debate, Balcombe concludes.
Contents
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 Fish and Thrips: At the Margins of Pleasure PART III: FROM ANIMAL PLEASURE Feeling Good, Doing Good: Implications of a Pleasurable Kingdom NOTES, REFERENCES, FURTHER READING
