Subject:
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Re: 3 Question (was: 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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Sat, 7 Jul 2001 13:15:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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909 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Eaton writes:
> The question is, what constitutes proof of morality? Prove to me that *you*
> have a concept of morality.
Don't I do this by discussing concepts of morality with you?
> Perhaps morality itself is instinctive, even?
Do you mean the ability to conceive of morality and the lack there of, and
different sets of morals? Or do you mean the tendency to act in a way that we
consider moral?
> Do dogs have a moral sense? I think so....We
> develop morality by equating others' desires with our own
And you think dogs do that? Put themselves in the place of others and imagine
what it would be like to be them?
> At what *specific
> point* (and yes there must be one to say that animals don't and we do,
> unless you don't accept evolution) does morality come into the picture? At
> what *MOMENT* do humans posess morality?
I agree with Dave! Morality must be a continuum. But the point at which I
would really say that something 'has' morality is the point where they can
discuss morality rather than just acting however they act.
> Selecting the dolphin isn't really any better of a choice than a tortoise,
> except that as humans, we feel that we are closer to dolphins.
I don't think so. I accept that humans are capable of morality. Simply being
like us in many ways doesn't make that true for some other organism. And an
organism _could_ be moral and have relatively little other stuff in common with
us. I don't really know the specifics of what evidence there is that dolphins
are smart, but I think it's out there. It seems to me more plausible that
since they are capable of more complex thought than the tortoise, like self
identification, that they are more likely than a tortoise to conceive of
morality.
Chris
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