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Originally Posted by Sparrow
Why another step, a puppy is as much of an other to you as I am?
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Is it? There are some "other" things in the world that I perhaps don't feel guilty about throwing - a rock, a banana, a spider, a snail...- and other things that I would feel guilty about throwing - a baby, a puppy, a fish... How do we work out which things are in the throwable group and which things are in the unthrowable group?
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Originally Posted by Sparrow
Not as far as I can see; but I'm open to persuasion.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by troymc
There are two separate issues here. In my mind the important part is that the child has learned that this question is a moral question. How he/she responds to it depends on the values he/she was raised with.
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Is it a moral question because the ants can experience pain?
Quote:
Originally Posted by troymc
I think it's invalid then to take that next step of specifying what now is expected of them because of that. eg. I would not consider the Dalai Lama immoral or bad for not following the Jain tradition of carrying a broom to sweep small creatures from his path. He values all life and desires to remove all suffering - he just doesn't take it to the extremes that the Jains do. And Buddhists themselves are much more conscientious about not causing harm than the average person.
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If ants are not to be stepped upon, which on one interpretation means something like in an ideal world no ant should ever be stepped upon, I'm not sure I understand how it is invalid to then ask what, given that we do not live in an ideal world, can be expected of someone who knows that ants should not be stepped upon in order to avoid stepping on them.