Brigliadore wrote:
Quote:
|
Or maybe (and I am not saying this is true as I don't know) the deer is too dumb to have any idea how good or bad his life is. Maybe all he does is go on instinct i.e; eat, sleep, run from danger, mate, go to the bathroom.
|
This, and much else that you wrote, could just as accurately describe the way much of humanity goes about its day.
I think of Philosophy, as a discipline, as an activity that has to transcend (in its evaluation of, for example, right and wrong) things like the statutory law and politics. Currently, people in most societies have many rights, including the right - unless they're unfortunate enough to happen to live in a war zone or occupied territory - not to be shot and killed for somebody else's amusement, and animals do NOT have that right in many situations. Even a companion animal or pet, in many cases, is viewed by the courts as mere property, whose needless death can be remedied with a small cash payment and a slap on the wrist. I'm trying to understand what is right, as opposed to what is simply true from a legal standpoint.
Brigliadore also wrote:
Quote:
|
I have to ask you to elaborate on what feelings the animals might have in that situation.
|
Most of what I have to work with, when it comes to evaluating how animals seem to feel, is what I experience every day with my own cats. They show affection for us, and for one another, they get scared, they display what is unquestionably a sense of humor at times, and they seem very concerned with staying safe and alive. I don't believe that there's any rational basis for thinking that the human urge to keep breathing and enjoy life is based on our ability to think and reason, and with every other species it's just dumb instinct.