The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten

Perfect for gifting to lovers of philosophy or mining intelligent ice-breaker topics for your next party, The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten offers one hundred philosophical puzzles that stimulate thought on a host of moral, social, and personal dilemmas. Taking examples from sources as diverse as Plato and Steven Spielberg, author Julian Baggini presents abstract philosophical issues in concrete terms, suggesting possible solutions while encouraging readers to draw their own conclusions: Lively, clever, and thought-provoking, The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten is a portable feast for the mind that is sure to satisfy any intellectual appetite.

Julian Baggini is a philosopher and the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine and lives in England. Baggini has written for numerous newspapers and magazines including the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Prospect and the Guardian, as well as for the think tanks The Institute of Public Policy Research, Demos and Counterpoint.

The Pig That Wants to Be EatenPreface Acknowledgements A note on sources 1. The evil demon 2. Beam me up . . . 3. The Indian and the ice 4. A byte on the side 5. The pig that wants to be eaten 6. Wheel of fortune 7. When no one wins 8. Good God 9. Bigger Brother 10. The veil of ignorance 11. The ship Theseus 12. Picasso on the beach 13. Black, white and red all over 14. Bank error in your favour 15. Ordinary heroism 16. Racing tortoises 17. The torture option 18. Rationality demands 19. Bursting the sop bubble 20. Condemned to life 21. Land of the Epiphens 22. The lifeboat 23. The beetle in the box 24. Squaring the circle 25. Buridan's an ass 26. Pain's remains 27. Duties done 28. The nightmare scenario 29. Life dependency 30. Memories are made of this 31. Just so 32. Free Simone 33. The free-speech booth 34. Don't blame me 35. Last resort 36. Pre-emptive justice 37. Nature the artist 38. I am a brain 39. The Chinese room 40. The rocking-horse winner 41. Getting the blues 42. Take the money and run 43. Future shock 44. Till death us do part 45. The invisible gardener 46. Amoebaesque 47. Rabbit! 48. Evil genius 49. The hole in the sum of the parts 50. The good bribe 51. Living in a vat 52. More or less 53. Double trouble 54. The elusive I 55. Sustainable development 56. The total perspective vortex 57. Eating Tiddles 58. Divine command 59. The eyes have it 60. Do as I say, not as I do 61. Mozzarella moon 62. I think, therefore? 63. No know 64. Nipping the bud 65. Soul power 66. The forger 67. The poppadom paradox 68. Mad pain 69. The horror 70. An inspector calls 71. Life support 72. Free Percy 73. Being a bat 74. Water, water, everywhere 75. The ring of Gyges 76. Net head 77. The scapegoat 78. Gambling on God 79. A Clockwork Orange 80. Hearts and heads 81. Sense and sensibility 82. The freeloader 83. The golden rule 84. The pleasure principle 85. The nowhere man 86. Art for art's sake 87. Fair inequality 88. Total lack of recall 89. Kill and let die 90. Something we know not what 91. No one gets hurt 92. Autogovernment 93. Zombies 94. The Sorites tax 95. The problem of evil 96. Family first 97. Moral luck 98. The experience machine 99. Give peace a chance? 100. The Nest café Index