The Philosopher’s Dog by Raimond Gaita, Routledge, £14.99, ISBN 0415309077
AN ENTOMOLOGIST I know reckons his career path was set by a fateful encounter with a butterfly at the age of three. For philosopher Raimond Gaita, a childhood shared with a parrot may well have been the determining fact.
The bird, a cockatoo called Jack, was his father’s pet and had the run of their house on a chicken farm in central Victoria, Australia. After a night spent sleeping on the well-chewed kitchen door, the bird would prise open the bedroom door, jump under the blankets and kiss Raimond’s father with unmistakable tenderness, murmuring softly “tsk…
