Our God-Pig

rotbuntes Husumer Schwein, Frontalaufnahme

Dear visitors of the Institute of Philosophy's webpage, dear students,

may I introduce myself: I am representative of the pig race „Rotbuntes Husumer Schwein“ and god-pig of Braunschweig's philosophers. Together with my species companions I live in the agricultural zoo Arche Warder e.V. near Kiel. Already at the outset I would like to object to the view of John Stuart Mill who said: 

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the comparison knows both sides.” (John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, 1863, chapter 2).

rotbuntes Husumer Ferkel, Seitenansicht

Obviously, the philosopher had no clue about being a pig and, moreover, never read Marx who - as we all know - is famous for the phrase: "Das Schwein bestimmt das Bewusstsein" (The pig determines conciousness.)

In that very sense, Braunschweig's philosophers want to contribute to preserving agrobiodiversity and protecting a pig race, which was registered as "extinct "in 1968. Nowadays, it is re-bred again on single farms. Funnily, my race has the alternative name "Danish Protest Pig". According to the legend, we were bred in the colors Red-White-Red because in the 19th century, the Danish minority living in the upper North of Germany was not allowed to show their flag. Therefore, the pigs functioned as Danish flag. In my view, I perfectly represent the colours of Technische Universität Braunschweig. And as a bred animal that is mentioned again and again in the long history of philosophy because of both its sociality and its assumed hedonism (see, e.g., the passage on the "pig state" in Plato's Politeia), I also symbolize the institute's areas of specialization: philosophy of technology and economy.