(February 24, 2014 at 3:24 pm)jg2014 Wrote:(February 24, 2014 at 6:09 am)Jacob(smooth) Wrote: We thus return to the ethical side of things, and the question of how far we extend our empathy and to what degree we legislate personal morality.
I would argue we should extend empathy to animals on the basis of logical consistency. All ethics start with an assumption that something is of value, as there is always an impenetrable barrier between is and ought. However if one applies ethics without being logically consistent, one must have made an error somewhere.
When we extend empathy to humans, and not animals, most will do so on the basis of our ability to reason, use language have culture etc. But there are also some humans that do not have the ability to do this, and yet we would certainly extend our empathy to them. To be consistent one must either then extend empathy to animals or conversely not have empathy for disabled humans.
3 good replies in similar vein here. I hope you guys will understand if I don't reply to them individually.
So the question then becomes, why extend empathy to humans and not animals? Bennyboy explored this in more detail by trying to explore what properties of humans give them the right to stay off the menu.
My first instinct is to say simply "because they are human". It's not really any specific property or quality of humanity which makes me think we're special, it's just the species to which I happen to belong. I think one has to draw the line somewhere or one would grieve as much for the cockroach one steps on as for the lamb one slaughters, as for the person in hospital. Just that side of people like me seems about right.
To extend this, let's say we base it on the ability to reason and suffer. Let's say I find a way to vat grow humans with no cognitive brain function, just enough of a CNS to run the autonomic systems. Meat without cruelty to be sure but doubt people would form queues!
Là ban dien s list introduces an interesting element as well. I'd not want to eat any of those animals either, (well, I'd be OK with the magpie). So perhaps self awareness is the criteria.
Is it a quality of humanity which puts Us off the menu or simple perceived "likeness", a Darwinian hangover from not wanting to eat our own genetic material?
Good discussion now Btw!
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken."
Sith code
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken."
Sith code
