Only the Pigs Can Think: Why Philosophy Is a Privilege We Can't Afford

Louis Prang & Co. (American, 1824 – 1909)

We like to imagine that philosophy is for everyone. Anyone, anywhere, can read Plato, Kant, or Nietzsche and join in a discussion. That’s the fantasy, right? But let’s be real. In Indonesia, most of us don’t get anywhere near that kind of education. Such as our 12 years of mandatory schooling don’t even offer philosophy as a subject. Or also, the high school graduates or anyone who decided to choose philosophy as their major in university would be questioned a lot, ‘What job will you do if you graduate?’, ‘You’d have a harder time finding a job!’

So, how are we supposed to engage in philosophy? From the start, this field doesn’t really belong to us. We never seem to be invited in, either. 

And even if we wanted to explore it on our own, there’s a huge barrier: the price of books. Not just philosophy books–any book that, in hope, can guide us to think more than what we've been told in our daily life. A single title from a major publisher can cost as much as a full day’s wage under the UMK (regional minimum wage). That’s not an exaggeration. For many workers, choosing to buy a book means sacrificing a day of meals, transport, or bills. 

Imported books are even worse. They can cost two, three times more than what people in the West pay for the same title. Meanwhile, second-hand bookstores in countries like Germany or the US sell entire shelves of literature, science, and philosophy for the price of a single coffee. 

Let’s Talk About the Pigs

In Animal Farm, the animals start equal. They overthrow their human master (Sir Jones) to build a society where no one is above the other. However, we all know what happens: the pigs—clever, educated, strategic—rise to the top. They start making the rules, twisting language, manipulating the other animals who are not as smart as them, and eventually become the new masters (repeating the old pattern, but even worse because they build it by layering too many lies in the name of the animal's welfare). 

‘At least, we are working for our own sake, not for selfish humans anymore!’ 

The pigs don’t work the fields. They don’t bleed. They say their energy is spent on thinking, so they write the laws, teach, and argue. Over time, one of the leaders (because at that time, they had the two smartest pigs between them until one of them betrayed and stabbed the other’s back), convinced the other animals that ‘everything is for their own good’, even when it is clearly not.

This isn’t just a metaphor for corrupt governments. The author provides the readers with a big picture of the ‘what-ifs’ when the people don’t even know how to use critical thinking or even stop training themselves to be critical–they would be monopolized and taken advantage of by those who can use it. 

In this short classic novel written by George Orwell, the animals cannot fight back because they are too tired (being manipulated by the smart pigs, so the animals won’t notice that the slavery is not slavery, that they work for themselves, for their own good). Also, they are too uneducated, or too trusting (which turns to blindly obeying the rules that harm them without noticing it).

Isn’t it familiar to get back into the real world? Who gets to study philosophy? Who gets to argue for justice, ethics, and freedom? Usually, it is the ones who don’t have to fight for survival. The pigs.

Socrates Had Free Time

Ancient Greek society had this idea called scholē (σχολή)--it’s actually where the word ‘school’ comes from. But scholē didn’t mean chilling or vacation. It meant being free from physical labor, free from the stress of basic survival, so you could spend your time on ‘higher’ things like politics, art, and yes, philosophy. At that time, the freedom of leisure was only for a specific class: elite, free, wealthy males. Everyone else—women, slaves, laborers–were left to do the hard work that kept society going and were excluded from this practice.

As one scholar put it:

“Only elite, free wealthy males had the time to achieve this higher level of spirituality and exercise the freedom of leisure while the servants represented by slaves, women, and the poor were relegated to serve the necessities of the elite and excluded from the practice of leisure” (Sugiyama, 2013, p. 6)”

Yes, Socrates was smart, and he was a product of a system that allowed him to think, while others did not have that luxury.

This is not to say that people here ‘cannot’ think. Of course, all of us have this ability. Let me underline that there’s a difference between having ‘potential’ and having ‘access’, and the truth–bitter pill we have to swallow–is that access isn’t equal.

So, What Now? Is Thinking a Luxury Forever?

Philosophy is the main foundation of getting us to think deeper and question everything. If we accept that only the pigs get to think, what happens next? Does it mean we have to accept our faith for being unprivileged ones and turn into stop questioning the world just because it is out of our ‘league’?

Of course not. The main purpose of why this article was written is to remind you, the one who is reading this now, to shift how we view philosophy. Philosophy has to come down from the Tower of Babel. It has to stop acting like it is only for the bookworms, written in academic journals or thick expensive imported books. Philosophy has always belonged to the people, all types of people. 

Thinking can be radical. Asking ‘why’ is powerful. It doesn’t matter if we don’t have a formal education in logic or metaphysics, we–yes, you and I–can still challenge the systems around us. In fact, we have to. 

Philosophy as Protest, Not Performance

Philosophy must become a tool of protest against injustice that harms us, not merely a performance. It must stop being a luxury hobby and start becoming a survival skill. Not just TikTok's quoting Socrates from Plato’s books, but thinking that leads to real-world change. It can start with small things, such as questions about why our schools (usually the public ones) teach obedience over curiosity, or challenging who benefits from certain laws and policies. Those are philosophies, too. 

No More Pigs

If we want to break the cycle, only the pigs can think; we need to democratize thinking. That means making books more affordable (without making the authors and the publishers suffer). It means reimagining education to include questioning, not just memorizing.

I hope we will never repeat the same mistake that the animals on the farm did. 

So, do you want to be like the animals who let the pigs think for you?