RE: Test my belief system
September 6, 2015 at 2:08 pm
(This post was last modified: September 6, 2015 at 2:12 pm by henryp.)
(September 2, 2015 at 2:22 am)robvalue Wrote: I have to draw the line somewhere and "not worry" about the effects of life below that line.
I'm very much in agreement here. It's a pretty arbitrary line to draw. My line, for example, doesn't include insects, animals, and a large number of humans.
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The other weird thing in this, is the focus on pain/suffering. For example, if a crazy man was holding an anvil over the head of a sleeping baby, he could drop the anvil, crush the baby's skull, and it likely would never know it happened. But I imagine you would punch him in the nose to keep him from killing the baby.
How do you rationalize around death that doesn't involve pain/suffering? Pyrrho above dismissed it as a flea not fealing pain. Or a flea not being aware. But those circumstances frequently show up in human existence, and I doubt you'd say "It's okay to decapitate people if they are sleeping" for example.
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Re offense and defense, I think that goes back to the example of the lion eating a baby gazelle. Despite the offense of the predator, we don't consider them evil/amoral.
It almost seems, and you said this earlier, that the dog being yours is the source of protecting it. Which makes me wonder if the pain in that relationship you are interested in preventing would be your own at seeing something you like suffering? Do you feel much sadness, for example, at the idea of other dogs in the world with fleas. I'm sure you'd rather they didn't, but honestly, I doubt you lose much sleep over it.
