The Endgame

Newsletter #45 - What is it like to be a sheep?

Toronto, November 5, 2023

What is it like to be a sheep?

The Guardian newspaper reported recently that a ewe with a huge fleece had been marooned at the foot of a Scottish cliff in the Highlands for more than two years.

Jillian Turner told a reporter she spotted the animal on a 2021 kayak trip. “About half a mile before turning into the Cromarty Firth we spotted a sheep on a shingle beach at the bottom of some steep, rocky coastline... She saw us coming and was calling to us along the length of the beach following our progress until she could go no further. She finally turned back, looking defeated.” Two years later Turner, on another kayaking trip, saw the sheep again. “She called out on our approach and once again followed the group along the shore jumping from rock to rock, calling to us the whole way.”

Animal lovers were appalled by the plight of what quickly became known as Britain’s loneliest sheep. Especially poignant to those who followed the story was the way the sheep “called out” to the kayakers. BNN Bloomberg commented, “The sheep’s plight has become a metaphor for human isolation, underscoring the emotional toll of loneliness.”

To everyone’s relief the story of Britain’s loneliest sheep has had a happy ending. Five local farmers hauled the animal up the steep slope. “She is over-fat – it was some job lifting her up that slope,” said one of the farmers. They named her Fiona.

Does romantic anthropomorphism make any sense? Can a sheep experience loneliness the way humans understand it? Did Fiona really “call out” to the kayakers? What is it like to be Fiona?

In a famous 1974 article on the problem of consciousness, the American philosopher Thomas Nagel asked “What is it like to be a bat?” Nagel concluded that only a bat knows what it is like to be a bat. His analysis applies equally to a sheep.  Only a sheep knows what it’s like to be a sheep. Only Fiona knew how she felt and what she was doing when the kayakers paddled by. It was human fantasy to impute human motive to her actions, to describe Fiona as “calling out.”

Which brings me to Misty the cat. Misty, a female long-haired calico indoor cat, belonged to my mother. We inherited her when my mother died almost ten years ago. For a decade I’ve been watching Misty and trying to understand her emotions and behaviour. For example, does she feel lonely if my wife and I are out for the day or away for the weekend? There’s a lot of rubbish on the Internet about how to know if your cat is lonely or depressed, mostly posts by people trying to sell you cat food or kitty litter. Tom Nagel the philosopher would make short work of these guys and their posts.

Misty follows me around the house. If I’m sitting on the couch, she jumps up and sits next to me. She sleeps in a basket in my office when I’m working at my desk. At night she first spends time on the bed and then moves to a bedroom sofa where she stays until morning light, seemingly watching over her sleeping owners. If I wake up in the middle of the night I can make out her reassuring spectral being. (Could all this just be because I’m the one who feeds her?)

Sometimes Misty and I stare at each other for a while. I wonder, what is she thinking? (“Thinking” might not be the right concept.) Is she wondering what I’m thinking? What does she see when she stares at me? Only she knows. Only Misty knows what it’s like to be Misty.

I love Misty. But does Misty love me?