The philosopher's dog is a parody of the concept of the philosopher's god. The philosopher's god is the alleged clever person's concept of a god: largely vague and non-descript and with very few, if any, anthropomorphic properties. It is the favourite approach of physicists whose Masonic pals insist that they have to have a conception of, and belief in, some kind of deity in order to be acceptable moral and social agents. This is, of course, just more of the usual megacult bullshit, but tenure is important, I guess.
