Animal rights, veganism and PETA

[Edwardo Piet]

Suffering requires both bodily pain and sentience. So even if chickens' bodies react AS IF they feel pain, if they are not sentient they don't actually feel it or suffer.

I am not aware of such data myself and I'm not particularly interested in it either. There's so much suffering going on in the world anyway I don't really know where to start.

As soon as I get some money to spend I'd like to give to charity (and I'd also like some money to save so I can give more in future).

And if I wasn't on Lithium (a toxic mood stabilizer) I'd love to give blood.

EDIT: This is my 7600th forum post. Proof I have no life.

This place is my social life, I couldn't go for two months without it.

Although, if I was ever actually banned for real, I'd get over it.

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Firstly, as DvF has pointed out, consciousness is not shared, so the concept of a mean amount of pain is incoherent.

I'm glad you appreciate that point. It also makes the concept of aggregate pain incoherent for the same reason.

I say that every individual matters, and every individual matters equally by default. But once we are actually born we are not born into equal circumstances and situations and some of us suffer more than others. And I say, focusing on the individuals that suffer most FIRST, makes sense. Once they're out of the way, focus on the individuals that suffer less and less, and then, lastly, focus on perfecting happiness.

The other issue is of course what is possible to do. It's no good striving to help those beyond help. "Ought" implies "can".

I am certainly a Consequentalist but I'm also certainly no longer a Utilitarian.