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Articles

The Hedgehog’s Dilemma: A Metaphor About the Challenges of Human Intimacy

Krishna Chaubey explains Arthur Schopenhauer’s poignant thought experiment.

A hedgehog is a small mammal whose back is covered with quills. These sharp spines help the hedgehog in defending itself against predators. However, the quills that work so brilliantly as a defensive device turn out to be a detriment during winters, as then the hedgehog cannot get close to other hedgehogs to share warmth. Whenever one tries to do so, they poke each other with their quills and get hurt. So the hedgehogs will try not to get close and stay far away from each other.

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