We want ethics for a number of reasons, first and foremost, we want society to function. Therefore, we need ethics only in light of wanting society to function. To me this seems like a sufficient enough foundation for ethics, from which we can extrapolate moral principles when confronting a situation involving moral action.
This puts me in a tough spot because I don't think this necessarily leads to animal rights or vegetarianism.
This puts me in a tough spot because I don't think this necessarily leads to animal rights or vegetarianism.
A good question to ask, I think, is if we, collectively, didn't want organized society would it be okay to stab each others eyes out, starve them nearly to death, and cut small wounds on their body so that they bleed slowly to death?
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think that you are starting too big. Sure we need/want society to function, but why does that matter to the individual. It matters to the individual because society is comprised of individuals. Why do we want society to function? Because as individuals, we want other individuals to act a certain way towards us. Ethics stem from the individual relationships that make up a society.
When we search to figure out how we want individual to act towards us, we come up with reasons such as -
1.) I have the ability to experience and process pain. I do not like pain. I would like it if, knowing that I can feel pain, others did not cause me pain. If I do not like pain, I can be fairly confident that others do not like pain; therefore, I will not cause them pain. My sentience and the sentience of others means that we ought not to harm each other.
2.) Gee, up to and including this point in my life, I have really enjoyed myself, even when I was not reflecting on it. I sure would not be very happy if someone were to end my ability to continue to experience this happiness. I imagine that others feel similarly, therefore I will not end their capacity towards happiness. My capacity and the capacity of others to enjoy our lives means that I should not end their lives.
We gather reasons for ethics from the individual basis, and then, using science, conclude that other animals have the capacity for these things. Using applied logic, we can conclude that animals who measure up to those abilities deserve a certain level of treatment, and ethically, we must treat them in that way.