When the opossum feels threatened, she becomes paralyzed. Her body temperature plummets, her breathing and heart rates drop to a minimum, and her glands simulate the smell of a putrefying corpse. Playing Possum explores what the opossum and other creatures can teach us about how we and other species understand mortality, and demonstrates that the concept of death, far from being a uniquely human attribute, is widespread in the animal kingdom.
With humor and empathy, Susana Monsó tells the stories of ants who attend their own funerals, chimpanzees who clean the teeth of their dead, dogs who snack on their caregivers, crows who avoid the places where they saw a carcass, elephants obsessed with collecting ivory, and whales who carry their dead for weeks. Monsó, one of today’s leading experts on animal cognition and ethics, shows how there are more ways to conceive of mortality than the human way, and challenges the notion that the only emotional reactions to death worthy of our attention are ones that resemble our own.
Blending philosophical insight with new evidence from behavioral science and comparative psychology, Playing Possum dispels the anthropocentric biases that cloud our understanding of the natural world, and reveals that, when it comes to death and dying, we are just another animal.
Susana Monsó is associate professor of philosophy in the Department of Logic, History, and Philosophy of Science at the National Distance Education University (UNED) in Madrid.
"This riveting book—often surprisingly uplifting, sometimes even funny—will enhance and expand our understanding of how other minds may apprehend one of life’s greatest mysteries."—Sy Montgomery, The American Scholar
"Illuminating."—Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
"Monsó upends our anthropocentric views of death and makes the case that other species possess the cognitive requirements to understand death and mortality."—Francisco J. Rivera Rosario, The Transmitter
“With great wit and subtle humor, Monsó presents in a new light a number of fascinating, often familiar scientific studies of animal encounters with death. This book is a wonderful addition to conversations about animal minds and animal emotions.”—Lori Gruen, author of Entangled Empathy: An Alternative Ethic for Our Relationships with Animals
“Funny and a bit macabre, Playing Possum addresses the deep philosophical questions that emerge from animals’ encounters with death and loss. Monsó writes with charm, and the stories she tells will interest animal lovers, fans of philosophy, and those with a touch of goth.”—Kristin Andrews, York University
“In this remarkable book, Susana Monsó writes simply and beautifully about the vexed question of the ability of animals to understand death. This should be read not only by philosophers but by everyone who would like to better understand their companion animal.”—Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation
“In Playing Possum, Susana Monsó puts a wealth of fascinating examples at readers’ feet, offering an accessible and enlightening philosophical exploration of how animals relate to, and understand, death.”—David M. Peña-Guzmán, author of When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness
