(November 19, 2017 at 9:50 am)Khemikal Wrote: Here's a fun question, and it elaborates on my skepticism on necessity as a uniform moral modifier. Suppose there was some necessity in hunting NPP Rhinos to extinction. Would that reverse our moral appraisal?
A necessary evil is still...well....evil...right?
That's right. The question is whether it comes down to the greater good as virtue, or abstinence from evil as virtue.
Man vs. beast, killing that beast is nasty business-- it will suffer, and its life will end, and I see both those as negatives. But given a knowledge of the bigger picture. . . you can count all the animals who don't yet exist but will, and will definitely suffer (like livestock), you can count the lives of one species against those of another, and so on.
