Books › The pig that wants to be eaten
The pig that wants to be eaten
336 pages
A bite-sized playground for the intellect that turns everyday assumptions into delightful, brain-bending puzzles.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting down for coffee with a brilliantly annoying friend who will not stop asking 'but why?' in the best possible way. It is a brisk, highly modular experience, perfectly designed for dipping in and out whenever you have a spare five minutes to question the nature of reality. The mood is relentlessly curious and playfully provocative, stripping away the dense jargon of academic philosophy to reveal the raw, fascinating dilemmas underneath. You will find yourself pausing mid-page, staring into space as you realize your own moral compass might be entirely contradictory. It is a delightful, brain-bending workout that leaves you feeling a little less certain about the world, but vastly more interested in it.
- Mood
- intellectually stimulating
- curious
- provocative
- Tone
- inquisitive
- playful
- analytical
- wry
- accessible
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- moral ambiguity · the nature of reality · personal identity · ethical dilemmas · cognitive dissonance
- The writing
- Crisp, conversational, and refreshingly free of academic jargon, designed to deliver complex ideas with punchy clarity.
- The arc
- Begins with a sense of confident certainty that is quickly dismantled into playful confusion, leaving the reader with a lingering, delighted curiosity.
- Who it's for
- Curious thinkers and armchair philosophers who love mental gymnastics, paradoxes, and having their fundamental assumptions gently dismantled.
Content notes
- hypothetical violence
- existential themes
About the book
Both entertaining and startling, 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. BACKCOVER: “Thinking again is what this taut, incisive, bullet-hard book is dedicated to promoting.”—The Sunday Times (London)“This book is like the Sudoku of moral philosophy: apply your mind to any of its ‘thought experiments’ while stuck on the Tube, and quickly be transported out of rush-hour hell.”—New Statesman
Description from Open Library.
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