Bag Of Cows

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The Philosophical Restaurant

Aspiring restaurant owner Edgar Cookwell is bringing a new concept restaurant to the town centre of Bedford.

As a student, Edgar studied philosophy. He was particulary interested in Utilitarianism, under which society would be organised based on what gave the most happiness to the most people. Although Utilitarianism sounds like a good idea, there can be some pretty unpleasant consequences. For example, if pupil A wants to bully pupil B, the distress caused to B is greater then the pleasure gained by A, so the bullying should not be allowed. However, if A can persuade enough friends to join in the bullying, all their small pleasures in seeing B suffer would outweigh the considerable distress of B, so the bullying would not only be allowed, it would actually be encouraged.

As a reaction to this, Edgar became a firm believer in Negative Utilitarianism. Under this philosophy, things should be organised to as to minimise the distress suffered, rather than maximise the happiness. In our society we already use this principle - this is why we spend money on hospitals to treat sick people, rather than just using the money to give all the well people a big party.

Edgar's new restaurant is to be the culinary encapsulation of the Negative Utilitarian philosophy. In the restaurant, customers will be given a menu of foods, and will be required to pick the one which they hate the most. The kitchen staff will then prepare a meal which contains any foods except the one they hate.