What all of the above is leading up to is not, of course, a notion that humans have a right to viciously torment and unboundedly exploit every lower form of life. Mostly, I just like to raise the questions, because I think they are interesting, important, and very difficult. For the sake of completeness, however, I feel I should append my own current opinions and conclusions—though I will insist that the relevance of the questions does not in any way hinge on the quality of the conclusions I draw from them.
My personal opinion (strongly held) is that there are animals sufficiently intelligent that we should do all in our power not to exploit them or cause them any suffering, and that there are animals that we can exploit without feeling too much guilt about it, though that exploitation should never be heartless and never cause undue suffering (e.g. I do not object to slaughter, but I do object to kosher and halal meat, and any other method of slaughter that is not designed to kill as quickly and painlessly as possible). The same goes for medical research. But while this is a strongly held opinion, my opinion of where we should draw the line is not strongly held. There is too much evidence of the remarkable intelligence of, to take some famous examples, chimpanzees and dolphins for me to feel comfortable treating them as less than sentient; but I do not object to the raising of beef cattle, nor to experimenting on mice (again—under ethically reviewed conditions and not for trivial purposes).
It should also be admitted that I don’t lead a lifestyle that’s strictly ethical even according to my own criteria. I eat meat very frequently. (I might reconsider this if I weren’t allergic to so many vegetarian alternatives; with my allergies, vegetarian options aren’t viable, but I won’t pretend to know what I’d do if I had the choice. After all, I’ve never had to face it.) I don’t go out of my way to buy free-range meat. Perhaps—no, probably—I should. (I do applaud the idea of vat-grown meat, and hope that I will live to see it on the market.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 07:19 pm (UTC)What all of the above is leading up to is not, of course, a notion that humans have a right to viciously torment and unboundedly exploit every form of life. Mostly, I just like to raise the questions, because I think they are interesting, important, and very difficult. For the sake of completeness, however, I feel I should append my own current opinions and conclusions—though I will insist that the relevance of the questions does not in any way hinge on the quality of the conclusions I draw from them.
My personal opinion (strongly held) is that there are animals sufficiently intelligent that we should do all in our power not to exploit them or cause them any suffering, and that there are animals that we can exploit without feeling too much guilt about it, though that exploitation should never be heartless and never cause undue suffering (e.g. I do not object to slaughter, but I do object to kosher and halal meat, and any other method of slaughter that is not designed to kill as quickly and painlessly as possible). The same goes for medical research. But while this is a strongly held opinion, my opinion of where we should draw the line is not strongly held. There is too much evidence of the remarkable intelligence of, to take some famous examples, chimpanzees and dolphins for me to feel comfortable treating them as less than sentient; but I do not object to the raising of beef cattle, nor to experimenting on mice (again—under ethically reviewed conditions and not for trivial purposes).
It should also be admitted that I don’t lead a lifestyle that’s strictly ethical even according to my own criteria. I eat meat very frequently. (I might reconsider this if I weren’t allergic to so many vegetarian alternatives; with my allergies, vegetarian options aren’t viable, but I won’t pretend to know what I’d do if I had the choice. After all, I’ve never had to face it.) I don’t go out of my way to buy free-range meat. Perhaps—no, probably—I should. (I do applaud the idea of vat-grown meat, and hope that I will live to see it on the market.)