Animal Slavery

[bennyboy]

Why is it that moral arguments against suffering or death are applicable only to the human species? The only real answer can be that there's something intrinsically special about humans, some magical quality that animals do not have-- though they feel the same emotions, experience pain and fear as we do, etc.

There is something intrinsically special to being human for humans. This has already been explained to you.

Your condescending tone notwithstanding, there's a problem with this idea. White people were intrinsically special to German nazis. But this is not a sufficient moral ground for genocide or slavery. European Christians considered themselves intrinsically superior to Africans; yet we do not consider this reasoning sufficient to establish a right to enslave others.

Where has Western culture developed the idea that people are special, and deserve to dominate all of nature just because we can? That's right. The Bible.

This is bullshit.

Wow. What a withering, insightful argument.

Without the Bible, there is no real argument which supports the use and abuse of non-humans. And since the Bible is bullshit, there is no real argument which supports the use and abuse of non-humans.

Which means that so is this. You've already been shown alternative arguments.

None of them is a good basis for a moral argument. For the most part, they amount to the "We are special, so we can do what we want" variety, or naturalistic arguments. Naturalistic arguments fail because we don't apply them to other aspects of our lives-- special pleading is a kind of hypocrisy. "We are special" arguments fail because anyone/anything can be considered special, making the argument meaningless in establishing or defining a sensible morality.

I recommend you stop using metacommentary words like "You've been shown" or "has already been explained to you." You and the other posters here aren't a definitive authority on the subjects of morality or slavery, so your implied appeal to authority is a poor substitute for actual arguments.