Subject:
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Re: Did animals have rights before we invented rights?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 2 Jul 2001 12:37:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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654 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Daniel Jassim writes:
> > In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> > Unless you are amoral, the fact that you can kill someone does not mean, in
> > and of itself, that you have the RIGHT to do so. It merely means that you
> > have the ability to do so.
>
> But nature allows killing for the sake of survival. I have no problem taking
> the life of any human being who is trying to take my life or my wife's or
> child, and I have no problem being absolutely brutal in doing so if it means
> survival. If that makes me amoral, so be it.
It doesn't. You aren't the initiator of force.
> > Animals are amoral. In their system, might makes right. Humans, while they
> > are still animal, can choose not to be amoral. To do so means repudiating
> > the notion that force is the only mechanism for deciding outcomes. That is,
> > humans transcend the merely animal.
>
> Or better yet, humans have the ABILITY to transcend the "merely" animal,
> correct? But do we really? The fact remains that humans are the only species
> on this planet that kill their own in such sickening numbers. We are still
> aggressive and territorial and we still resort to violence, or the threat of
> violence, to settle disputes.
If you initiate the use of force routinely you're not human in my book.
> > If you cling to the notion that might makes right, are you human, or are you
> > merely an animal?
>
> Tough question to answer because I see us all as animals (scratching,
> farting, yawning, bleeding, playing, and wondering what's for dinner -- just
> like our other animal brothers). We share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees,
> so I guess the other 2% must be the stuff that makes us think we're better
> than everything on this planet. We are amazing creatures, I won't deny that,
> but the anthropocentric view of life and the universe is pretty unrealistic
> and potentially destructive, in my opinion
See above.
++Lar
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