PHILOSOPHY Rights bereft of obligations: or, Socrates versus the pig

In Homer’s Odyssey, we have an account of Odysseus and his men making landfall on the island of Aeaea, the home of witch-goddess Circe. After drugging most of the sailors, she turns them into pigs. Fortunately for them, Odysseus, with the help of the god Hermes, is able to restore them to their human condition.…