Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Equal Consideration

Some would like to dismiss consideration for any sentient being that isn't human because it's lower cognitive abilities, or it's allegedly more limited emotional spectrum. But I would argue that equal consideration for all sentient beings should not be dependent on the mental or physical capabilities of the being.
Those who would argue the former point would mostly likely be inconsistent by the fact that they would likely consider the happiness and/or wellbeing of a mentally retarded human, but not that of an animal.

4 comments:

  1. Retarted or restarted?

    I think the emotional aspect is most justifiable. Most "lower species" aren't as capable as being emotionally attached to others, as well as humans aren't generally attached to non-humans to the same extent as they are to other humans.

    Another argument for your point might question why certain animals deserve protecting laws and ethics, like pets such as cats and dogs. I suppose the spectrum is the excuse for that, but it's not much of one.

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  2. Hahaha, restarted...tee hee.

    Anyways, what exactly is justifiable by the emotional aspect?
    You bring up an interesting point with pets and such, it shows that people become emotionally invested in their cats and dogs and so they are concerned enough that these laws come about. It suggests that people care about issues when they're "close to home," but when they're out of sight they're out of mind.

    Ex: people wouldn't let their neighbor starve to death, but it's easy to let people half a world away die every day.

    Ex2: people who own cats would feel horror at some nut baking his in an oven, but would hardly think about the hundreds of slaughtered livestock they'll never see.

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  3. Exactly.

    So what do you want me to do about it?

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  4. Give all being equal consideration in a way that you really feel is right. I emphasis consideration, because we all know that to treat everyone and everything with actual equality would be absurd, but to consider their well being as much as anything else's is a very different thing.

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