Quote:
Quote by: Captain Chaos  StrongHeart...
Are you driven in your belief by a powerful empathy for the suffering of animals that we exploit?
Put in another way...
Why do you feel that we should extend the concept of self determination to animals - why should we care about that? |
Great question, CC. I almost feel bad for answering it now, because I think I am behind in answering one of your earlier posts which I have had earmarked to get back to.
Empathy is one of the things that brought me to examine the plight of animals. I would say that empathy suddenly woke me up to what they were facing on a daily basis and that after looking deeper into it, it became "reason" and a rejection of "might makes right" that now drives my belief that they are not ours to exploit.
I would add, that those in the Animal Welfarist movement are guided by "empathy." When I first become concerned for animals, that could accurately describe me and at that time I was not a vegetarian. But, once I moved further on the spectrum to accepting the reason for animal rights, I could not BUT accept the premise for Animal Rights. Acknowledging that reason calls for AR but still choose to eat animals would make me a hypocrite, or at best inconsistant. I prefer to try and eliminate inconsistancies with action and philosophy and try to stay as consistant as possible in those regards.
AR is not based on empathy (though it grows it membership of people who move on the spectrum from it/Animal Welfarists), but on reason because it speaks to the legal constructs of man -- who have the power to grant rights or deny them. Animal Welfarists after digging deep enough, are shown not to base their opinions on reason, but on emotions of pitying certain animals but ignoring others -- which denies equal reason cutting across the spectrum of treatment. That is why you will find Animal Welfarists stopping to help a cow that maybe was injured by a car, but then that same night going out to eat steak. Of course, an ARist will help the cow, but they won`t dine on one of its relatives later.
I respect reason and logic and that means not perverting it to make it prejudicial. Reason and logic cuts across all issues if it is allowed to remain pure and not permitted to lead to neurotic compulsion.
We should care because suffering is an unpleasant state and the equal consideration of interests tells us, that just as surely as we have a need to satify our urges by not having a force more powerful exerted on us to prevent that, so do animals. When ones needs and urges are violated to the point of frustration by not letting them be performed, suffering is the result.