What Is Time To A Pig?

timespan pig
  • ”Tempus porco nihil est.”
  • — Time to a pig means zilch. (Boynton 5)

We think of time as a concern to people, rather than farm animals. But “while pigs are not people, they are part of history, and indeed may be occupying it far more fruitfully” (Burstein 121–122) than a certain similar tasting mammal.

Pigs, in fact, do think of time, but metaphysically, and in so doing they doubt that it properly exists. They only know the present is as indefinite as what's for dinner, the future has no reality other than as a present hope of the next pleasurable indulgence, and the past has no reality other than as a present memory of the last succulent scent or morsel.

So for now, those time framers who ask such questions can watch ontology beating up on epistemology, as their considerations about time are mocked by time meaning nothing. But for the rest of us who appreciate the time difference, the fact that “to a pig time means nothing is… a position to be envied” (Burstein 122).