RE: Atheists only vote please: Do absolute MORAL truths exist? Is Rape ALWAYS "wr...
February 19, 2015 at 10:53 pm
(This post was last modified: February 19, 2015 at 10:55 pm by Losty.)
(February 19, 2015 at 10:46 pm)JuliaL Wrote:(February 19, 2015 at 10:34 pm)Losty Wrote: I don't believe in animal rights or animal morality. The concept makes no sense to me.
You'll have to define your understanding of 'rights' and 'morality' to me for this conversation to be meaningful.
I'll take a swing at my definitions:
Rights are protected activities or properties of the subject individual which, if externally infringed upon, such infringement would constitute a moral wrong.
Morality is a system of value in which actions or properties can be ranked as better or worse, more right or wrong.
With rights come responsibilities. Animals cannot be held responsible for their actions. Maybe one duck doesn't enjoy being raped by another duck, but that doesn't make it immoral for the duck rapist because it's a duck.... it doesn't have the mental capacity to understand right and wrong and cannot be held responsible for it's actions.
(February 19, 2015 at 10:50 pm)JuliaL Wrote:(February 19, 2015 at 10:43 pm)Losty Wrote: [Why would you feel we have a responsibility to interfere?
That's the thing...it's about human responsibility not animal rights. Otherwise we'd have to arrest animals for violating each others' rights.
However we, as humans, are responsible for our own behavior and incur a duty to not harm when possible.
I consider causing suffering in other self aware organisms to be harm.
That is my entire point. It is not the right of an animal to not be harmed, but rather the responsibility of a human being to not harm animals.
