Preserving human life is so important to so many people no matter what condition that human life exhibits.
Where can I find cites that relate it is permissable to destory ants, spiders, flies, chickens, cows, lambs and what have you. These are living things as well
I personally have no objection to destory ants, flies and so on but they all have living cycles, work together for their own survival and have a complex system of doing so.
Thusly, please explain some of the acceptable reasons for this dichotomy.
I imagine the standard reponse would be that people are made in God’s image and have an immortal soul whereas animals were made to be taken advantage of and exploited by man.
As to why animal and human life are accorded different values, I think it’s several things:
We identify other humans more than we identify with animals. The closer the identification/sympathy, the more likely a person is to act to save a life. A person will save a family member before a stranger, and a stranger before an animal.
Humans are considered more emotional than animals. It’s considered that family members will grieve heartily, whereas animals will hardly miss their kin.
Humans are sentient. (Well, some might not be. )
An individual human can contribute more to the world than an individual animal.
Animals probably have no real concept, whereas humans fear it. Thus, killing an animal has less emotional repercussions for the killer than a person who kills a human. (A human can tearfully beg for his/her life but an animal cannot.)
Some people consider that animals do not “feel” pain the way that humans do. Concersely, some believe that since an animal cannot understand pain the way a human does, (i.e that the pain of surgery will go away and the pain is the cost of an extended life) its suffering should be more limited than that of a human.
As for why people believe all measures should be taken to preserve human life:
Emotional attachment-- the family cannot bear to part with the loved one. This is probably the most selfish reason, and that’s why it’s not primarily cited. Probably, many people in that situation won’t admit that even to themselves as being their primary motivation.
Belief that a miracle will happen-- not necessarily a religious one, but that the one-in-a-thousand chance will pay off. It’s clinging to a last vestige of hope.
Fear of death.
Fear that the loved one would blame them for not trying hard enough or giving up on them.
Fear of social dissaproval: that family and friends might think that it was a financial decision not to continue treatment.
Religious beliefs.
A misunderstanding of that terms like “brain death” and “permenant vegetative state” mean.
There is, I believe, no rational reason to regard human life as intrinsically more valuable than animal life. Sure, we identify more easily with humans than with animals but that isn’t a rational reason. Our opinions are prejudiced because we ourselves are human, interact with humans on a daily basis, are raised to respect the sanctity of human life and know our fellow human beings far more intimately than we will ever know any animal (well, with the possible exception of these guys - not safe for work!). Consequently, our regard for them is higher. It is for this reason that human life is held in higher esteem than animal life. Were the However, this doesn’t mean that human beings are innately more valuable than animals. Only that they are more valuable to us.
Nor does the argument that humans are intrinsically more valuable than animals because of our increased intelligence hold any water because not all humans are more intelligent than animals. A severely brain damaged person is nowhere near as intelligent as your average pig (which, contrary to popular opinion, is a surprisingly intelligent animal) yet we still treat the mentally ill with far more dignity than any animal. Just look at the Terri Schiavo farrago.
The argument that we need to destroy animal life in order to survive is similarly flawed, as millions of healthy vegans will readily attest.
That human life is granteds primacy in human society is far from unexpected and stems from the nexus of associated emotions and social conventions which flow from our emotional attachment to our own kind.
Humans are designed to kill annoying insects. We’ve failed to fulfill our duty so now you have flies and mosquitoes and avian flu running around. I’m not sure this answers your question, just wanted to let you know.
And we shouldn’t forget about the sociopaths who’ll save animals or appletrees before saving humans to point out the sentimentality we’ve attached to this test of common courtesy.
But I personally think the 40 million cows slaughtered in the US annually for food is (sometimes) more regrettable than how bad my food tastes because I can’t cook. That’s because me and six billion other people are psychopaths.
My dog = cocker spaniel who we rescued from the pound the day before he was going to be put to death has been a member of our family for 6 years…He is now about 8 years old.
One of the questions in a game called Scruples is: For 500,000 dollars tax free would you take your dog to the vet and have him/her put to sleep tomorrow…My answer is NO…He is part of my family and when he departs this world by natural means, I personally will feel the loss as much as I would for a human being close to me.
Thats how I feel. When I see a sow bug crossing the driveway, I don’t step on him like I did when I was much, much younger. My thought is that the guy did me no harm. Why end his life?
Purpose of the above is that just because human beings are more complex, they are certainly more evil in general than any genus of animal or insect that I am aware of and as a result the value of the life of a human being over an animal is either religious based or emotionally based…no intrinsic scientific reason.
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