Pig That Wants to Be Eaten [Hardcover]

Julian Baggini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2005

Julian Baggini presents 100 of the most interesting thought experiments: short scenarios which pose a problem in a vivid and concrete way, and invites the reader to think about possible answers for him/herself. Experiments cover identity, religion, art, ethics, language, knowledge and many more. In every case, Baggini sets the problem up for the reader, and then offers some ways of approaching it. There are rarely 'right' or 'wrong' answers (though some answers are better than others), but the real point is in the exploration of the question. From Zeno's paradox to Groundhog Day (how do you make sense of a life of eternal recurrence?), via the pig that wants to be eaten (so should you eat him?), Plato's cave, Minority Report (is it right to punish people for what they are going to do, but haven't yet done?), and an American Werewolf in London (how can we tell whether we are awake or dreaming?), this book makes philosophy not only mind-stretching but also entertaining.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"* 'The Sudoku of moral philosophy' New Statesman * 'Thinking again is what this taut, incisive, bullet- hard book is dedicated to promoting' John Carey, Sunday Times * 'Enjoy these mind-boggling tales from the outer limit of thought' Guardian * 'An eloquent and engaging introduction to the major philosophical quandaries' Scotland on Sunday * 'An engaging read...It's one to which I'll keep returning- whenever I feel like an argument and have nobody to argue with' George Rosie, Sunday Herald (Glasgow)" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Julian Baggini is the editor and co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine. He writes regularly for the Guardian, Independent and Independent on Sunday, Prospect and the TES, and has appeared on Nightwaves and In Our Time. He is the author of several books on philosophy, including What's It All About? Philosophy and the Meaning of Life (Granta), Making Sense: Philosophy Behind the Headlines (OUP) and Atheism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Granta Bks. (July 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862077487
• ISBN-13: 978-1862077485
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,434,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Julian Baggini is the editor and co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine. His books include Do You Think What You Think YouThink? (with Jeremy Stangroom), What's It All About? - Philosophy and the Meaning of Life and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten, all published by Granta Books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't read this in one sitting, March 25, 2006

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pig That Wants to Be Eaten (Hardcover)

Douglas Adams posed many a philosophical question in his works. For some, the most hilarious - or disturbing, was the meal that introduced itself and recommended certain portions for consumption. In a society fully detached from the processing of living flesh into oven-ready tidbits, Adams portrayal of "the pig that wants to be eaten" seems outlandish. Yet, is there truly a moral issue in developing a food that not only embraces the opportunity to be consumed, but has the capacity to help the diner choose the more desireable cut. ?

Julian Baggini poses this and ninety-nine other questions in this tantalising collection. Many of the topics he raises have been with us for millennia - remaining unresolved today. The author draws the old questions to centre stage, clad in modern finery and make-up. The new appearance helps bring the reader into the questions with a greater sense of comfort, one hopes. But when the last line has been read, it's clear that this isn't just an entertaining recasting of old conundrums, but of serious issues we confront daily. Reading them all in one go could be dangerous to your mental health!

Many readers will have encountered these issues previously: if your brain is transplanted to another body, are you still you? Or if that bastion of "consciousness" is instead placed in a vat of nutrients and wired into a computer that feeds it sensory information, are you still "real"? If your ATM grants you ten thousand dollars when you asked for a hundred, are you "morally bound" to return it [assuming the bank's auditors can't track where it went]? On a lighter note, we might consider whether a sculpture produced by Nature is a work of art. If it is, who sets a value on it? How much would you pay for it?

Baggini manages to prompt us with [mostly] plausible circumstances and definitely important questions. He does it in a couple of pages dedicated to each, and never provides a satisfactory answer to any of them. That's right and proper, since the questions posed must be applied by the reader to their own circumstances. He raises questions of who can pollute and the options confronting us all on how far our committments can reach in an increasingly interconnected world. The author's style is that of a fellow commuter on the bus or train every morning. The reading is easy, the format is simple. And each question generates long periods of reflection or exchanges over a beer. Few are resolved easily. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but a bit condescending, December 21, 2008

By 

Swift (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pig That Wants to Be Eaten (Hardcover)

"The Pig That Wants to be Eaten" presents a number (100, actually!) of interesting philosophical puzzles and paradoxes that can be used as a starting point for deeper inspection on topics such as consciousness, self, and other philosophical goodies.

In the sense that the book's short vignettes each for the most part illustrate or introduce one particular philosophical issue, I guess it could be considered a success. However, some minor kudos for compiling a list of 100 such topics / vignettes notwithstanding, part of me thinks that it's a rather low bar to set. After all, one can spend a lifetime contemplating almost any statement. Even a straightforward statement such as "This is a pencil" can be analyzed without limit.

So the interest is not so much in the questions, but in the author's guidance as to what the interesting things about such statements are. In this, I found the book a bit shallow and condescending. The readers of this book are likely to be relatively smart people looking for an intellectual workout. The book reads like a substitute junior high school teaching trying to "blow the minds" of a sleepy and none-too-bright bunch of children. We are handheld to conclusions and paradoxes that we see from miles away. This book would have been far more obvious if it spared us the obvious and was a bit, well, more intelligent and nuanced.

I'm not saying that writing "more intelligently" on such topics, while maintaining the book's admiral simplicity and clarity is particularly easy. But, I am saying that it would have made the book far better and also stimulated more thought.

As it were, I wouldn't go out of my way for this book, though I'd consider giving it as a gift to a particularly bright junior high school student who is at that stage where he/she thinks that he/she is the first person in the universe to ask the "big questions."

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a useful rewrite, October 25, 2005

By 

A reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pig That Wants to Be Eaten (Hardcover)

The experiment in the title of this book is taken from 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where it is done in a light and amusing way, but still makes a philosophical point. Some of the other experiments are obviously rewritten from Martin Cohen's earlier classic book of 101 thought experiments, others are old 'evergreens', but this Bagini book is a useful rewrite of the present range of philosophical stories.