Originally Posted by
MarkBastable
I think the point of the original proposition was that the baby - uninformed and innocent - would eat the apple, which would somehow demonstrate the 'natural' state of affairs, unclouded by the learned behaviours of blah-de-blah and so on and so forth.
If we're to accept that as the proof of something, then my uninformed baby would demonstrate the natural human preference for chicken nuggets over raw parsnip.
As it happens, following a visit to a farm, I did explain to my kids that the piglets they'd seen were destined to become sausages. The seven-year-old immediately demanded to become vegetarian, which we allowed. She got bored with it in about three days. The five-year-old was utterly unconcerned, and demanded a bacon sandwich as soon as she got home.