Posted by alexandra_k on May 26, 2005, at 19:22:43
In reply to Re: Back to the point » alexandra_k, posted by AuntieMel on May 26, 2005, at 12:04:35
> Ok, I'm getting the drift.
> You started out with internet hunting - which on the surface seems uncontroversial. How could anyone support that, right?
> And then took it a step further to ask - is there any moral or ethical difference between internet hunting and physical hunting.Yes :-)
That was the general idea...But then I kept on going...
What is the difference between specism and racism?And then in response to the idea that our teeth have been selected for their ability to let us eat meat... I thought that guys had been selected for being bigger / stronger than females so as to better overpower them (help along the reproduction side of things). But if whatever has been selected for is 'natural' and if it is morally acceptable to do whatever has been naturally selected for then how could we say that guys overpowering women is wrong? (I took it to be fairly uncontroversial that it is wrong).
> The way I view it, hunting over the net is more detached, where physical hunting requires a person to be there, pull the trigger (or whatever), gather the kill, clean it and properly store it. Most people would, by doing that, greater appreciate what it is that they are doing.
Ok. But is 'greater appreciation' enough to make it morally acceptable??? I mean, lets say we were looking at hunting black people over the internet as opposed to IRL. Lets say that it is fairly uncontroversial that internet hunting isn't so good. But does it become morally acceptable if people do it in RL and have 'greater appreciation' for it?
The point of that case is that it is supposed to be fairly uncontroversial that there isn't a difference between whether they are hunted IRL or over the internet. There isn't a difference whether there is 'appreciation' or not.
It isn't anything about the attitude of the person who is hunting them - it is the fact that their right to life has been violated.
People are sentient. They have interests.
Animals are sentient. They have interests.
It is thought to be wrong to treat people as mere means to our ends.
We are supposed to allow them to pursue their own goals.
Not do what we want with them with no consideration for their own interests - just because we can.
I don't understand how it can be different in the case of animals.> I don't believe that hunting is - by definition - immoral. But I do believe that some people do it immorally. I'm just not totally sure where I personally would draw that line - and I'm not even sure a line can be drawn.
Ok.
I guess I think that animals have interests and goals and the capacity to suffer and to feel pain.Their interests should (IMO) be taken as seriously as we take the interests of people.
What we stand to gain by hunting them
Does not compare to what they stand to lose.
Thanks for bringing the discussion back round.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:498173
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20050509/msgs/503325.html