parkdalian

Well that's a visceral response but not in the spirit of the dilemma as it's presented. So, the animals in the road are tied down and you're driving an Abrams tank.

Just

Most higher mammals such as chimpanzee, whales, dolphins, pig and even a pet dog display some sort of intelligence and communication.
It has been found Chimps can do some simple logical tasks and are aware of themselves and their appearance.
I value life which is closest to me.
in order:
people I like/love
Atheists
Other born humans.
high order Primates (eg: chimp)
young human fetuses (eg: up to 15weeks)
higher mammals and companion mammals (eg: elephant, dolphin, dog, cat)
other mammals (eg: mice, marsupials, monotremes)
Vertabrae (eg: Fish, Reptilia, amphibians)
Invertabre (eg: spiders, insects)
bacteria, plants.
eukaryotics (prototista)
george bush

MyKell

Just,
Your list is highly confused. You value human fetuses more than adult "other primates"? Also, you value bacteria more than you value eukaryotes "Protists"?? You should review your biology...
Cheers

Just

Do I?
Well I'm doing at biology at school I'm confused even more now.
Well its just a rough list - the basic idea is to rate living things value by their similarity to myself.

MyKell

Yeah, I saw that you human fetuses more than adult dogs, whales, and dolphins, not primates. Sorry. But even though, do you really think that?

CuriosityKills

Having a name for "pain" and understanding the concept of "pain" are two different things. Why do you need a name for it to understand it?

Just

I really don't care about some human fetus on the other side of the world who. Nor do I care about some dog on the other side of the world.

However, I do care about the future of an endangered speices. If the Whale or Dolphin is endangered then I would rather it survive than an adult human whom I do not know.

MyKell

Just,
Most of the discussions here are intelligent. Please refrain from posting opinions that would not teach anyone anything. I was trying to tell you that a moral standard for valuing animals lives is almost certainly going to be based on their brain's complexity. At least that was my opinion. I contrasted a human fetus, which probably has a brain complexity which is relatively low with that of an adult chimpanzee, an adult dog, or a cat. Any of the latters would probably feel the world around them in a much more sophisticated way, and thus would have a life more valuable than a human fetus.

excreationist

We if it was between a human and an animal, I'd avoid the human, even if they were small. If it was two animals, maybe I'd avoid the one that was most appealing/cute... e.g. if there was a cute cat and an ugly cow I'd go for the cow - or if there was a nice bird and a crocodile, I'd go for the crocodile. It's cuteness would make me have empathy for it and therefore want to avoid running it over.

parkdalian

The point I'm trying to make with the driver scenario is that there is not a strict dichotomy between our feelings for the value of animals versus that of a human. I also want to point out that we put different value depending on who the human is. We don't really make these valuations based on cuteness but more on the perceived amount of the social ability of the animal or human and the ability of such to interact with us emotionally. In the case of people, those that are close to us (friends, relatives) have the greatest value because those people are socially interacting with us the most .