The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher

I know this isn't the most important part of a book, but it is beautifully formatted. There is one chapter per a thought experiment, this chapter is always three pages long. In these three pages the author introduces, explains, and goes in depth about each thought experiment. For some reason this made a good impression on me, since to boil down all these thought experiments to three pages each means a lot of planning and effort was put into the book. Many of these thought experiments are compelling, funny, makes you think about what you think is right. Though unfortunately, some of these thought experiments are really similar to each other, which was disappointing. Overall I liked the book and I recommend it.

This book consists of 100 logical and moral puzzles. For example, a doctor is not allowed to end a patient life, yet if the janitor accidentally pulls the plug, the doctor is not required to put that plug back in. What is the difference? These puzzles and brain teasers are like a greatest hits album covering the entire history of civilization. Some date back to Greek or Roman times, while others are far more modern, including the title entry which is based on a passage from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Few, if any, of the entries are original, as the author readily admits. Each entry is occupies a page or less, and is then followed by a page or two of commentary. You can read and think about one entry for five or ten minutes, then put the book down for a while without losing continuity. Of course, these brief discussions are anything but exhaustive. Personally, I had read most or all of these puzzles before. Still, I found it interesting to see them presented in one succinct collection.

I loved taking a couple minutes here and there to read a chapter in this book. After reading a chapter, it would be stuck in my head the rest of the day. There were a couple boring chapters, but those would probably depend on what your interests are. The author doesn't try to solve or give answers to any of the chapter's questions, but that's the fun part. He plays the devil's advocate on both sides of the table, and lets you ponder the question by yourself. People that are mad about this should remember that philosophy is all about questions and not answers.

This book is rather like a compendium of famous problems in philosophy, which have boiled down to a concentrated one or two pages each. This said, it is not helpful to someone who has a serious scholastic interest in philosophy but would make a fine tool for introducing philsophical thought to young people and children, for whom the reading of philosophical literature is too premature but can nonetheless benefit from the logical and critical thought developed by an engagement with philosophy. I think that this book could serve as a fine base for an extracurricular philosophy group for children and teenagers.

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]