Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
I will carry insects out of the house if possible, and save them from drowning when I find them in the pool, but I have no qualms about killing a biting insect. If they don't harm me, I try to protect them when I can, but like you, I don't go to the extremes that Buddhists or Jains do. But I do respect their efforts. If it's an insect that only stings in self-defense, I will try to help them also if I come upon them in distress. I don't believe in killing for the sake of killing. Peter Singer has raised some good arguments for not eating meat, and I have tried to cut down on my consumption, but I don't think humans do as well when they abstain from meat altogether. That being said, I think we have a responsibility to ensure that animals raised for consumption are treated humanely as possible.
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Bolding mine.
Sometimes I get a little tired of that term; 'treated humanely'. What does it
mean? Treated like a human? Is that really better? What if we treated a cow, 'cowly', a dog, 'dogly', and a swine 'swinely' - and who should decide what was what?
In any case, I would probably be most concerned about the quality of the food that the animal provide me. I see humans as another animal among others and I don't think humans necessarily have greater (or lesser for that matter) 'moral responsibility' towards other species just because we are able to think abstractly.