Some brief thoughtsnivenusOctober 1 2009, 20:37:50 UTC
I've actually heard a lot about meat-eating and vegetarianism (considering that is seemed to be the only topic by ethics professor really wanted to talk about) and here are my thoughts.
First of all, it's clear that the animals we eat, by and large, have nervous systems. Which means, to some degree, they experience pain. Define it how you like - be it actual pain or merely sensory input, but it appears that, on some level, they have a deep aversion to the experience comparable with our own.
That being said, animals don't experience any less pain being torn apart by predators in the wild than they do being slaughtered by humans. Even our least humane methods of slaughtering tend to be fairly painless. That's not to say that there aren't abuses or that the living conditions in which these animals spend their lives are not often abominable. But the actual killing part is, well... not so bad really, and a lot of work has been done on making it as humane as possible, even in factory farms
( ... )
Re: Some brief thoughtsjoysweeperOctober 2 2009, 16:24:33 UTC
That generally is the kind of conclusion I end up coming to; people should be humane to food animals. It's just that sometimes I have to go through that chain of thought again.
Comments 2
First of all, it's clear that the animals we eat, by and large, have nervous systems. Which means, to some degree, they experience pain. Define it how you like - be it actual pain or merely sensory input, but it appears that, on some level, they have a deep aversion to the experience comparable with our own.
That being said, animals don't experience any less pain being torn apart by predators in the wild than they do being slaughtered by humans. Even our least humane methods of slaughtering tend to be fairly painless. That's not to say that there aren't abuses or that the living conditions in which these animals spend their lives are not often abominable. But the actual killing part is, well... not so bad really, and a lot of work has been done on making it as humane as possible, even in factory farms ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment