Would You Eat Your Cat?: Key Ethical Conundrums and What They Tell You about Yourself

Would You Eat Your Cat? challenges you to examine these and many other philosophical questions. This unique collection of classic and modern problems and paradoxes is guaranteed to test your preconceptions. Jeremy Stangroom creates contemporary versions of famous dilemmas that explore the morality of suicide and the ethics of retribution. He then delves into the background of each conundrum in detail and helps you discover what your responses reveal about yourself with a unique morality barometer. Are you ready to have your best ideas confronted and your ethical foundations shaken? If so, then Would You Eat Your Cat? is the book for you.

"Stangroom, cofounder of The Philosophers' Magazine, does a solid job of presenting common moral dilemmas in digestible form, though not with much depth or subtlety. With four sections of hypotheticals ('Ethical Impasses,' 'Rights and Responsibilities,' 'Crime and Punishment,' and 'Society and Politics') followed by a 'Responses' section that addresses more than two dozen specific scenarios, this look at the philosophy of personality falls short of delivering a straightforward argument. With a format reminiscent of Two-Minute Mysteries and other books for younger readers, it is guaranteed to annoy some, as there's no apparent reason why the discussion of, say, whether torture is justified to stop a bomb from exploding does not follow directly upon the delineation of the situation. Furthermore, farcical names (e.g., Emperor Q. Woolius Liberalis) will appeal more to the inexperienced philosopher. There is some promise as interesting conundrums are addressed — for example, whether we should sacrifice one life to save five. Agent: Elwin Street." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Are you authoritarian or libertarian? Are we morally obligated to end the world? And just what's wrong with eating your cat?

Jeremy Stangroom is an elected Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion. He is a cofounder of The Philosophers' Magazine and its New Media editor. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.