The Useless Tree

In praise of the uselessness of cats

Last week I noticed an NYT piece entitled "the uselessness of cats."  Needless to say, it piqued my curiosity.  It was a follow up of an earlier blog post by Nicholas Wade reporting on a recent scientific study that found that "cats do not perform directed tasks," and "their actual utility is debatable, even as mousers."

My Taoist sensibilities were amused when Wade, in the "uselessness" piece, takes a Zhuangzi-like turn (without referencing Zhuangzi):

If I were a cat’s PR agent, I would say my client transcended utility
and change the subject. Ailurophiles should probably concede the
scientists are right in doubting the general usefulness of cats. If
scientists are to be challenged on the nature of cats, firmer ground
might be the question of whether cats can read human minds.

A fuller Taoist response would not bother with that last bit about trying to prove that cat's can read human minds.  Better to stick with a more fundamental rejection of the notion of utility.  Not only should we not judge cats in terms of utility, we should not judge humans in that manner either.  Instead, we should simply observe and see how the cats express their cat-ness and not impose human expectations or desires on them.  Notice the cat reference in this version of Zhuangzi's "useless tree" story:

"I have a huge tree," said Hui Tzu to Chuang Tzu, "the kind people call shu.  Its huge trunk is so gnarled and knotted that no measuring string can guage it, and its branches are so bent and twisted they defy compass and square.  It stands right beside the road, and still carpenters never notice it.  These words of yours, so vast and useless – everyone ignores them the same way."

"Haven't you ever noticed a wildcat or a weasel?"  replied Chuang Tzu.  "It crouches low, hiding, waiting.  Suddenly it springs up and bounds east and west, uphill and downhill, centering its trap, and finally it makes the kill there in its net.  Then there's the yak: huge as clouds hung clear across the sky.  It's mastered immensity, but it can't even catch a mouse.  Now you've got this huge tree, and you agonize over how useless it is.  Why not plant it in a village where there's nothing at all, a land where emptiness stretches away forever?  Then you could be no one drifting lazily beside it, roam boundless and free as you doze in its shade.  It won't die young from the axe.  Nothing will harm it.  If you have no use, you have no grief." (11-12) 

To get back to cats.  Of course they are brilliant hunters.  If we judge those talents simply in terms of how they might serve human ends, we will miss the beauty and marvel of it all. 

Blacky 1    

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Sam Crane
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2 responses to “In praise of the uselessness of cats”

  1. Bao Pu Avatar
    Bao Pu

    Hi Sam. Nice post. Like Zhuangzi, I find the notion of usefulness to be relative. A goose that honks might be useful for one purpose, while one that doesn’t will be useful for another.
    My cat Maceo is not a brilliant hunter. In fact, “brilliant” is not an adjective I have ever used with regard to him. But he’s affectionate and mild-mannered. That’s useful to me 🙂
    re: “Not only should we not judge cats in terms of utility, we should not judge humans in that manner either.”
    — Now, I’m not sure I would go this far and introduce “shoulds” into the equation, but utility is not really a consideration for me when I befriend an animal.

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  2. justsomeguy Avatar
    justsomeguy

    That looks just like my little snowball.
    Awww.

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