The Thinking Dog

May I just say before proceeding that you (reader) better not expect a fictional story in which the plight of a thinking dog is narrated. Do remember: puriter ex experientiam. Curious? Read on.

Men are the only animals who think in images. Experimental, non-experimental or problematic? It all started with all these in a class in Experimental Psychology one hot afternoon (how timely). Almost everyone stood up to defend his answer, basing from Philosophy and making use of a dog as a possible animal capable of ‘thinking’ in images. Philosophy would maintain that sentient beings i.e. those who do not have the faculty of rationality, dogs included, have with them the internal sense, memory, by virtue of their having a brain. Hence, they are capable of storing sensitive data. Furthermore, they act instinctively for the sole purpose of preservation, no more, no less. The professor argued. What about those who are trained? I stood up. …trained animals such as dogs who ‘know’ how to dispose… She interrupted. Dispose? Like in prayer? I was like, what?! I composed myself. I cannot lose my temper, not here, not now. Dispose, if you are following from my argument, cannot have any other meaning other than to… She could not stop laughing, perhaps the idea of a praying dog is that funny. Pathetic. What kind of teacher is she? …dogs know that if they do otherwise, they will be punished. Hence, their condition is determined by a reward-punishment system. The underlying impetus is still the preservation of life. She does not seem to understand. She does not understand! The class was a chaos. Discussion went outside the border to the point of determining who has the most dogs among us. Oh my fucking God. Forgive me. Forgive her, she does not know what she is doing.

To move on, she made a compromise. In Psychology, memory is a mental activity. We can believe whatever we want to believe. If that’s what you believe in Philosophy, let it be. She cannot be serious. I want to literally bang my head non-stop. I cannot fathom the existence of a thinking dog!