(August 22, 2011 at 11:57 am)Tiberius Wrote: What about the rights of bacteria? This is something that actually interests me somewhat; at what point do animal rights activists draw the line? For instance, are insects considered "animals", and why don't plants (who are also living creatures) command the same kind of respect? After all, we are all related via DNA, and further than that, we are all made up of the same stuff (atoms).
What exactly gives animals rights but not plants, or bacteria, or rocks for that matter. Is it because most animals can feel pain? If so, what about those that suffer from forms of congenital analgesia? So please explain (using logic preferably) why some types of life have "rights" and why others do not.
Sentience. You can't be sure that anything other than yourself has it but you can give the benefit of the doubt.
Plants and bacteria don't have central nervous systems so it's reasonable to assume that they aren't sentient. They could be I suppose but then I have to eat something if I want to stay alive and eating plants would still be the most harm reducing way to eat, since animals are an inefficient converter of plant calories to meat calories.
Insects are animals (they are of the kingdom of Animalia), I don't go out of my way to kill them like some people do but I understand that purely through the act of being alive I'm liable to be the cause of some insect deaths. It's all about harm reduction rather than some in-achievable purity.
