With the aid of tall stories, jokes, common sense and bizarre insights, Cave engages the reader in a romp through the best bits of philosophical thought. Tackling some of life’s most important questions, his brilliant puzzles that will keep you pondering throughout the night. From encounters with bears (ethical dilemmas) to talking turkeys (the problem of induction), Cave storms through philosophy’s classic conundrums with rapier wit and wisdom. Illustrated with quirky cartoons throughout, What's Wrong With Eating People? leaves no stone unturned, covering a smorgasbord of topics including logic, ethics, art and politics. It is a great stocking-filler for anyone, of any age, who loves a mental workout!
[...]... beloved is mine' or 'The trouble with football is the other team' 102 17 God, chocolate, and Newcomb: take the box? 109 18 The brain 116 19 What's wrong with eating people? or even Who's for dinner? 123 20 How to gain whatever you want 130 21 'I am the greatest' or 'There ain't no Sanity Claus' 135 22 Veils of woe: beats and peeping Toms too 143 23 Paintings, within and without 150 24 The unobtainable:... humility: must all puzzles have solutions? The term 'paradox' is sometimes confined to apparent contradictions within logic and mathematics Often, though, philosophers use 'paradox' more widely - as I do here - where the words 'paradoxes', 'puzzles' , and 'perplexities' are more or less interchangeable In the philosophical 23/459 puzzles here - the paradoxes, the perplexities we often start off with some comments,... everyday experiences In a way, philosophy is neither as difficult as Sudoku nor as annoyingly cryptic as some crosswords Yet, in another way, philosophy presents hugely greater challenges and rewards - not least because we may never be sure when we have finished The puzzles may persist; perhaps some are inescapable Of course, philosophy is no mere matter of fun; philosophy grapples with basic understandings... don't mention the apples' Brain food - or philosophy through puzzles Philosophy can generate light - unlike treadmills at gyms Although ungymed myself, I recognize that exercising the body is popular and valuable However, we also need some exercising of the mind Philosophy provides the opportunity - and provides the opportunity about matters that matter Philosophy does not just help to keep our minds... many spread way beyond, into ethics, the arts, mind, and law - into, indeed, whether eating people is wrong They transport us from how great God may be to whether women and men are equal; from why we should save endangered species to muddles in reasoning - to what is this thing called 'love'? Philosophy opens eyes; philosophy opens 'I's Simply by virtue of belonging to a community of speakers, we possess... others This book can, of course, be read totally separately from my first collection of thirty-three puzzles, Can a Robot be Human? Which puzzles appeared in which book was pretty arbitrary 'All things conspire' is an ancient saw - and certainly in philosophy, one puzzle leads to another This applies within this book as well as between the two books Hence, I have included an appendix of main puzzle... Learn more about Oneworld Join our mailing list to find out about our latest titles and special offers at: www.oneworld-publications.com For: those who wonder - and those who do not - andArdon Lyon (again) CONTENTS Preface ix Acknowledgements xvi 1 On thinking too much: how not to win a princess's hand 1 2 On the run: all's fair with bears? 8 3 A pill for everything? 15 4 In no time at all 22 5 Man with. .. Cutler's stockings 183 29 Hove and late: a gruesome affair 188 30 If this be judging… 194 31 Do we make the stars? 201 32 Without end? 208 33 Fragile creatures that we are… 214 Appendix 1 Further reading 221 Appendix 2 Notes, sources, and references 223 Appendix 3 Paradoxes and puzzles: a quick finder 242 General Index 245 PREFACE Time would have passed anyway There is nothing that you need to know... conclusions hit us as manifestly false, unacceptable or undesirable In some way they contradict our starting beliefs Something must have gone wrong with the reasoning - or maybe our starting points are mistaken The perplexity resides in locating the mistakes Some philosophical puzzles puzzle because we are unsure how far to take, or where to take, our principles or everyday beliefs We realize that if we go so... reflecting on language and reflecting on reflecting Philosophy opens eyes Seneca of ancient Rome commented how things of daily occurrence, even when most worthy of amazement and admiration, pass us by unnoticed We may be likened, on occasions, to sleepwalkers, successfully finding our way about, yet unaware of what we are doing Philosophy opens our eyes indeed Philosophy, it has been suggested, opens our