The Doggy Dissertation
Working Title: THE HOMO SAPIENS - CANIS FAMILARIS RELATIONSHIP AS A BRIDGE TO THE SACRED: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH
This will be a qualitative design.
Problem: Humanity has experienced a quelling of spirituality in the modern age. The family dog is a technology, but it is a different kind of technology in that the dog also represents a connection to the natural world. Philosophers have long suggested that the way back to the peaceable kingdom is through such a connection to the natural world. I would dare to suggest that the family dog (technology) does provide such a bridge to the transcendent.
RQ: Can the widespread phenomenon of connecting to the sacred via the human-canine relationship, evident across cultures and through history in different forms, be systematically analyzed within selective surveys and under more general frameworks?
Introduction:
-Discuss the problem of the quelling human spirit
-roots in philosophy, religion, science, technology
-Discuss the modern predicament of technological proliferation (bringing
in the idea of Foucault's history as being "the history of the present."
-Write about the dog as a technology, the uniqueness of the dog among
other companion animals, and suggest that the dog may provide a "path
to the transcendent" because human experience is what occurs through
relationships (relying on Mitcham et. al.)
-Talk about the current literature regarding the "benefits" that dogs bring to human lives in terms of the physical, the psychological and the social. Explain how the status questionus (sp?) of the "spiritual goods" are currently only anecdotal in nature.
-Address the dualists and introduce the interlocuters.
Chapter I: Needs a snappy title
-Trace the history of the spiritual relationship between Homo sapiens and
Canis familiaris within a religious and cultural context from antiquity to
modernity. Establish a strong base that the spiritual aspect of the
relationship has evolved over time and within the context of culture. This
will provide a firm footing for the exposition that will follow.
(examine spirituality and the human-canine relationship within the selective survey of history - do any patterns emerge?)
Chapter II: The Human-canine relationship - the presence of the dog in myth
-Discuss how throughout history and within cultures, the dog has been included in myth, while bringing in the idea that myth is a means of spiritual vision.
-Make connections with how myth materializes in modern culture. Also discuss how myth perpetuates in many parts of the world such as in Africa Tribal Lore and among Australia's aborigines populations. Bring in Joe Campbell and John Mtibi.
(examine spirituality and human-canine relationship within the selective survey of mythology - do any patterns emerge?)
Chapter III: The Homo sapiens - Canis familiaris Relationship as a Focal Activity
-Engage in a conversation of how the relationship with one's dog can be defined as a "Focal Thing" using Borgmann as he rests on the shoulders of Heidegger's eminent explanation of the "fourfold."
-Bring in the idea that the bonded relationship between the person and their dog changes that person's relationship with canine technology.
-Pull in other thinkers/ideas such as: Buber's "Thou" and Randour
(examine spirituality and the human-canine relationship through the lens of philosophy)
Chapter IV: Homo sapiens's understanding of a relationship with Canis familiaris as a
"Model of God"
-Investigate in detail the dog as a model of God in relation to Sallie MacFague's three main questions as well as within the context of other ideas within her book "Models of God" where she suggests, "The world is our meeting place with God" (185).
1. What sort of divine love is suggested by the dog as a model of
God?
2. What activity, work or doctrine is associated with this model?
3. What does this imply concerning the conduct of human
existence?
-Make connections with HH Dalai Lama, Geertz, and the dog writers such
as Webb and McElroy.
(examine spirituality and the human-canine relationship through the lens of theology)
Chapter V: The Homo sapiens - Canis familiaris relationship in the Spiritual Matrix
-Evaluate the family dog through the critical framework of Spyker's matrix of spirituality in the new millenium. Apply his eight lenses to evaluate the relationship between humans, the dog as technology, and spirituality in the information age.
1. these are: boundary, simplicity, transparency, community, identity, velocity, connectivity, liberty.
(examine spirituality and the human-canine relationship through the lens of technology)
Conclusion:
Return to the introduction and tie together the parts of the body. I'd like to also refute Heim's claim that VR is the Holy Grail and explain that instead, my contention is that the family dog is the Holy Grail. Perhaps this might work as a 5th chapter, but I'm not sure??
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