And mosquitoes.
If you think spiders are the closest thing we’ve got to actual aliens, allow me to introduce you to the tardigrade.
After you’ve admired this fine fellow for awhile, here are some facts about it:
Tardigrades are able to survive in extreme envionments that would kill almost any other animal … temperatures of 151°C (304 °F) or cold of −200°C (-328°F) – some can even survive cooling to −272°C (~1 degree above absolute zero or -458°F) for a few minutes … they can withstand the extremely low pressure of a vacuum and also very high pressures, more than 1,200 times atmospheric pressure. Tardigrades can survive the hard vacuum of outer space and solar radiation combined for at least 10 days … tardigrades can withstand 1,000 times more radiation than other animals … Tardigrades are one of the few groups of species that are capable of reversibly suspending their metabolism and going into a state of cryptobiosis. Several species of tardigrade regularly survive in a dehydrated state for nearly 10 years.
Charming, eh? Now go kill that spider! 
Here’s an interesting essay on killing bugs:
http://aeon.co/magazine/philosophy/how-much-should-we-worry-about-death/
I’m the same. If I see someone killing a bug for no reason, I’ll make up some story about how it should live because it probably has a loving wife and kids to feed or something. That’s just a cover for my true feelings that it’s a life that has every right to go about its business as we do, but I don’t see the need to lecture anybody about it.
I’ll also catch and release bugs in my house and rescue them from a puddle of water but I’m not above killing them if they’re in my face or leaving them to their fate if they just refuse to latch onto my finger so I can save them. At my last job, I was called the Moth Whisperer because we had a lot of moths outside and I found one fluttering on the ground with a spider web tangled around itself. I picked it up and used tweezers to remove the web so it could fly.
If I lived in the rain forest or some tropical locale, I might be more ready to kill spiders because they might be dangerous, but in the US, there are only two species that are venomous and they are easily identifiable.
Does that happen often? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spider in my hair or bed in my life and only on my clothing if I walk through a web or the forest or something.
I condemn the killing of spiders, and I routinely lead by example in taking them safely outside. I hug trees, too, so, there you go.
Yes. I also rip paper without apology. Spiders and ants have no moral relevance as individuals. Whole species are morally salient though.
Counter argument 1: They are little sparks of life. There may be a theistic argument for trapping errant spiders or moths and transporting them to the outdoors.
Counter-counter argument: Humans are stewards of the animal kingdom.
CCC argument: Yes, quite. That means gratuitous killing is to be discouraged.
Counter argument 2: Biology. Spiders might be smarter than I think. The capacity for and nature of animal suffering isn’t well understood. Still: they are spiders. OTOH, maybe we should have a carve-out for jumping spiders. They hunt and seem to possess intelligence.
Link: Invertebrate Minds: A Challenge for Ethical Theory
by Peter Carruthers
This paper argues that navigating insects and spiders possess a degree of mindedness that makes them appropriate (in the sense of ‘possible’) objects of sympathy and moral concern.
http://faculty.philosophy.umd.edu/pcarruthers/Invertebrate-minds.htm
I haven’t read the paper, but it looks interesting. Let’s keep this in Great Debates.
I stamp out bugs, just like the kids in “Starship Troopers”.I’m doing my part.
Spiders I take on a case-by-case basis. If they are just in a tiny corner, invisible, they’re fine. But when their web get in the way, I vacuum them up–and if a spider is in the web, it’s going to die. I similarly would not attack a roach I can’t see.
Now, if it’s a cricket, it’s going to die. I think God was trolling that day, not making them high pitched enough that we couldn’t hear. thing makes an entire room uninhabitable.
I try to catch-and-release spiders in my house but if they’re too big, too fast or otherwise too challenging to catch I go for the kill. This particularly applies if they’re those Giant House Spiders - once they’re too big to fit a tumbler over, they’re a grease splat. I know they’re harmless but once you’ve seen a creature the size of your hand run out from under the couch you’re sitting on, you never quite recover.
My mother is not particularly helpful on the subject; she likes to point out that “if you’ve got spiders in your house, you’ve got things that spiders eat in your house.” Thanks, mom.
I was recently introduced to videos of ribbon worms and I haven’t quite recovered from that either. No, I’m not linking to any because then I’d have to look at them again. But go watch some. I dare ya.
On a related note, I cull snails and slugs in my garden as otherwise you end up with millions of them, eating every plant in sight.
Jesus! It’s like a sleeping bag with an arsehole!
I have a deal with spiders. They are freely permitted in my home, but only if I don’t see them. If I see them they get removed either outside or into the basement. I don’t intentionally kill spiders though and advise all my friends not to kill spiders. Same for bees.
Right before my mom passed, she planted these beautiful 4 o clock flowers of all colors in front of my home. Even more reason I want to keep them alive. They come back every year. But grasshoppers have been a real pest, eating away at them, to where they almost wipe them out entirely. But the grasshopper also attracted a couple of these beautiful big yellow spiders, along with little lizards who have come to my aid. (Actually they didn’t do it for me, but I like to think that they did.) Grasshoppers still are winning out, but let me tell ya, it gives me a lot of satisfaction to see a grasshopper land in their web, and see the action that happens next. Man, that is quite a show, yes, I’m easily entertained. It’s also neat to see a grasshopper getting its ass kicked by a lizard, throwing it around bouncing it on the ground, trying to knock it out before consuming it.
I don’t care for spiders in the house, more times than not I’ll let them out, other times, when I’m short on time, or for whatever reason, I do sometimes flatten them, but don’t really care to.
I’m with you there. Gosh, there is nothing worse when a cricket is in your house, and you are trying to get some sleep, but you continue to hear this loud chirping sound. I can’t sleep until they are gone!
Strange thing is, outside, it has the opposite effect on me. Outdoors, I love to hear their sound on a nice summer night, and when camping out, they actually help me to go to sleep faster. But indoors, in my house, what nerve they have, it is on, and they will be dead before the night is out if I have my way, provided I can find them and get to them.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself making more of an effort to not kill spiders I see unless they are really, really directly impacting me. I’ve got a few spiders in my basement (which I use regularly) occupying corners and not bothering anyone, so I leave them alone. I even left alone the one in my bathroom for a few days until I got around to finding a cup and taking him outside. The exception mostly seems to be spiders that appear in the shower, especially if I’m not wearing my glasses.
I don’t know that I’d ever condemn someone else for killing a spider unless it was clearly malicious, like going out of one’s way to stomp on one on a sidewalk. But personally, I’m much more in the live-and-let-live camp these days.
Shelob has her eyes on you, sir…
My sentiments are similar; am – fairly mildly – arachnophobic: when they’re above a certain size, I don’t want them around. I do trap-and-release if possible; but, as you say, if too big to fit a tumbler over… I suppose that a glass bowl and a large, rigid piece of cardboard could be held in reserve for the huge ones, but I fear I’m not that much of a wildlife-lover. Mercifully, I live in a part of the world where it’s very rare to encounter spiders of the kind of size in the above-quoted.
I had it drilled into me in childhood that spiders may not be attractive, but they’re good – they kill noxious insects. I agree in principle, and try to spare them. Wish I could like them – they’re fascinating creatures.
So where do we stand on cockroaches?
Directly on top of them.
I have seen this many times before and I don’t quite understand it. What is does venomous mean? Does this mean that out of all the (thousands?) of species of spiders in the US, only two are capable of biting me and my body exhibiting any reaction whatsoever?
Or does it mean that only two have the potential to bite me and cause serious health concerns? If this is true, then I don’t give the statement much credence.
I don’t want any creature in my house that can bite me and inject venom into me. Just because the venom doesn’t require that I go to a hospital doesn’t mean I should let him live in my house.
Why is it not condemned? Because we’re not Buddhists or Hindus, I guess. We don’t believe we’re grinding Granma in the dirt when we squish a spider. And frankly with the amount of human suffering in the world I’m not going to lose any sleep over the death of a spider.
What about killing a sparrow, squirrel or chipmunk? Same logic.