On Mon, 8 May 2000 09:31:18 -0400, Todd Moody <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>On Sat, 6 May 2000, Ken Stuart wrote:
>
>> Because to single out "animals" is entirely arbitrary.
>>
>> I've never yet heard a good response to the question put to "ethical
>> vegetarians" - "Why not be ethical towards carrots?"
>
>Have you actually studied much of the literature on ethical
>vegetarianism?  The general argument is that it is the capacity
>for suffering that generates an interest in avoiding it.  To the
>extent that we humans have an interest in avoiding suffering and
>not being lunch, animals that are relevantly similar to us have a
>relevantly similar interest.  It is that interest that generates
>the presumptive moral rule against causing suffering.
>
>It may be difficult to draw a sharp line between those creatures
>that are relevantly similar to us and those that are not, but
>that doesn't mean that there are no clear cases.  For example, it
>is very reasonable to suppose that the capacity for suffering
>depends on the existence of a nervous system of sufficient
>complexity.  This already rules out carrots and other vegetation.
>
>It is therefore not arbitrary to single out animals.  For the
>record, I am not an ethical vegetarian, but I know that the case
>for ethical vegetarianism is not as absurd as you are suggesting.

It's certainly not  absurd   ... trying to be ethical and avoiding suffering is
never absurd.

But it is certainly arbitrary in its manifestation.

For example, how many bugs suffered in the construction of the PETA headquarters
building?

Also, to use "similarity to us" as any sort of principle for determining who is
suffering and who isn't, is exactly the sort of "species-ism" that the PETA
people are always citing.

Interestingly, the Tibetan Buddhists eat meat, and the principle they cite is
that just as many creatures are killed in agriculture - no matter how careful
one is to avoid that.   So, instead they simply pray that the sustenance they
receive enable them to do good works.


--
Cheers,

Ken
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