meritocrat

Other animals eat animals. Ergo, why is it wrong to eat the felsh of other beings?

And if plants can feel pain, then what exactly is left to eat?

pariah

i would have to agree with humans being animals, and it is fine for us to hunt other animals

Shadowy Man

Twinkies.

or

Taco Bell "food".

fishbulb

That's a good post hoc rationalization, but I doubt it has anything to do with the distinctions we currently make.

It's easy to understand why humans would be more protective of one another, generally speaking, than other animals. If we all agree to not kill one another, and to protect one another, we all gain something. It is therefore to our advantage to make these bargains. Also, we seem to have strong natural inhibitions towards killing each other (which is probably why we still exist as a species), which makes us more amenable to the concept of human rights.

Other animals are incapable of entering into such bargains with us, so there is little direct benefit to us to agreeing not to kill them or even to treat them humanely; they can offer nothing in return. Nonetheless, many of us do have feelings that animal life ought to be accorded respect, and that a certain degree of humanity should be extended towards them. Perhaps it is because we are, by nature, both empathic and caring. We can put ourselves in the place of others, including animals, and we don't like the idea that they might be suffering, particularly at our own hands. (Which is, in part, why we might get very upset about slaughterhouse practices but not be at all concerned that wild animals regularly face even more terrifying, gruesome, and painful deaths at the paws of other wild animals, disease, infection, starvation, and the elements.)

One way to make ourselves feel better is to institute standards, be they personal, conventional, or legal, for the treatment of both other human beings and other animals. Another way is to try to deny that suffering is really taking place, or to distance ourselves from it. If you never ask where veal or Nikes or cheap gasoline come from, you never have to deal with the conflicting emotions of getting someting you enjoy and realizing that others must suffer for it. A third way is to rationalize that a certain amount of suffering is somehow justified because the animal (or human) deserves it or was created for that purpose. And, of course, not everyone is equally caring or empathic; some people may be genuinely unconcerned with the welfare of anyone or anything but themselves. Others may see themselves in every living thing.

Dr. Retard

So, yeah, I think it would be OK, by the lights of any 'vegetarian for animal welfare reasons'.

And how do I know? The absence of a nervous system, for one.

Keith Russell

Greetings:

Hey, plants eat animals...why should we put ourselves below plants on the food chain...

Keith.