Do you place a greater value on human life that the life of another species?
If so, why?
If not, why not?
If so, why?
If not, why not?
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Is Human Life of Greater Value Than That of Other Species?
- Thread starter SalixIncendium
- Start date
I think it's the natural default for humans to place greater value on their own lives (and that of their friends/family) over anything else. When it comes to pets, like dogs and cats, I know people who prefer them over other humans (or at least most humans).
On a more objective level, human life also depends on the continued existence of the ecosystem which includes other animal life. If humans keep breeding and expanding their habitable areas while reducing the habitable areas for other species, then humans could find themselves in a world of hurt.
Many humans do and i used to but now i don't. There is as much life in the fly i squash as there is in me.
If someone i know dies i feel sadness, of the other 160/170 thousand who die eaxh day i feel very little. Thats life, you live, you die
If someone i know dies i feel sadness, of the other 160/170 thousand who die eaxh day i feel very little. Thats life, you live, you die
Augustus
…
Yes, otherwise I couldn't eat meat.
Pretty much all humans do either explicitly or implicitly anyway.
Most people wouldn't buy a product if they knew hundreds of people were killed in the process of making it, but we tend not to worry that much about all the animals killed in the process (for example the timber industry).
Human society is grounded in human exceptionalism, and I'm not sure there is any way around that, even if we were to try our best to be as ethical as possible in our treatment of animals.
Human lives may not be intrinsically more valuable, but we can't help but act as if they were.
This is precisely the reason why I and many other vegetarians/vegans don't. I see no greater value in a human life than I do any other.
They are, after all, in their true nature, the same as me.
Do you please a greater value on human life that the life of another species?
Absolutely not.
If not, why not?
I hold that all things have equal intrinsic value or sacredness. Beyond that, the personal value I assign to something is based on relationships. Also, when it comes to preserving life, priority is given based on extinction risk.
Absolutely not.
If not, why not?
I hold that all things have equal intrinsic value or sacredness. Beyond that, the personal value I assign to something is based on relationships. Also, when it comes to preserving life, priority is given based on extinction risk.
99% of all organisms that has lived on this earth have gone extinct. Extinction of species is a natural phenomenon through the process of natural selection. How do you prioritize which species are meant to become extinct and which are not?
HonestJoe
Well-Known Member
I don't think you can make a simple binary comparison of "value", between species in general or between individuals.
The "value" can be measured in all sorts of different ways, shift significantly with context and depending on who is making the judgement. How we think and act in any give situation will be a complex result of those diverse judgements, along with any other relevant circumstances.
Sure I can, because I was asking what value you place, not what value we place. I'm looking for individual judgments, not societal ones.
idea
Question Everything
Humans appear to have higher cognitive capabilities than other life forms. Our ability to communicate complex ideas, build structures, create poetry..
No one has a problem eating a plant because it cannot think. When something starts thinking, it takes on new value. Increased intelligence, even from one human to another, is one definition of increased value.
No one has a problem eating a plant because it cannot think. When something starts thinking, it takes on new value. Increased intelligence, even from one human to another, is one definition of increased value.
How do these qualities equate to greater value?
I don't have a problem with eating a plant because I can do so without kiling it.
Soandso
ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚢᚱᛖ
Well, yes and no.
From a bird's eye perspective? No. Humans are just a single thread in the tapestry of life. If you pull at this thread, it unravels part of the tapestry. The same could be said for most other forms of life on earth, though. We are just a part of the picture as a whole, and that's just one picture of a possible many, depending on what other planets have life on them
From a subjective perspective? Absolutely. Being social creatures, people need other people more than animals. That said, animals do make life much more enjoyable, but not to the same extent or in the same way as people - especially friends and family. Usually people who go into the hills to be alone for long periods of time wind up going a little crazy for a reason
I do tend to default more towards the bird's eye perspective, though, so it's what it's
From a bird's eye perspective? No. Humans are just a single thread in the tapestry of life. If you pull at this thread, it unravels part of the tapestry. The same could be said for most other forms of life on earth, though. We are just a part of the picture as a whole, and that's just one picture of a possible many, depending on what other planets have life on them
From a subjective perspective? Absolutely. Being social creatures, people need other people more than animals. That said, animals do make life much more enjoyable, but not to the same extent or in the same way as people - especially friends and family. Usually people who go into the hills to be alone for long periods of time wind up going a little crazy for a reason
I do tend to default more towards the bird's eye perspective, though, so it's what it's
The Sum of Awe
Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.
Yes, because we are intelligent and know how to record keep. There is something special about that.
amorphous_constellation
Well-Known Member
Well, I think there was a time when humans would generally pray over the animal they hunted, and even mourn over it, and take time to recognize the divinity of the spirit/god force in the species they harvested. I guess in western society, all the plants and meat is just sort of seen as material, for human nutritional energy or to convert to numbers on stock market graphs. I just kind of think that bit cold, and overly secular. A theoretically respectful relationship to nature seems to be what attracts me to spirituality the most.
PureX
Veteran Member
It is to us. Or rather, it is to most of us.
We are programmed by our DNA and our circumstances to value our own species above the others. And many of us do not yet live under circumstances that would allow us the luxury to try and over-ride that programming. Nor could we ever fully do so, I suspect.
Secret Chief
nirvana is samsara
Don't get me started.
Heyo
Veteran Member
I do place greater value on the lives of creatures within my tribe. Me, my family, my close friends, the cats living here, my more distant friends and acquaintances, roughly in that order,
Likewise, 99+ percent of all humans who have ever lived have died...it's a natural result of living...
How do I prioritize? On the basis of not disrupting/destroying the ecosystems that other species live in. I may personally prefer species X over species Y (They're just so darned CUTE!), but the fact is both species, and many more, are integral parts of an ecosystem operating in a particular time and place. When we disrupt ecosystems, we cause extinctions, and we reduce the valuable ecological product of the ecosystem, reducing its efficiency and effectiveness at processing flows of material and energy to support life as a whole...to our own and everyone else's detriment.
shivsomashekhar
Well-Known Member
Perhaps we are wired to value our own species more than others.
I see physical proximity matters the same way. We value people closer to us more than people who we do not know or are geographically distant. For example, a single fatal accident or killing in my neighborhood is more real and impactful to me than a boatful of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean.
Human society has become more mechanized and industrialized, to be sure. That has been a bit of a double-edged sword, since we live better and eat better than we ever did in more primitive times, even if we were "closer to nature," so speak. Strictly speaking, "the natural way" is pretty harsh and cruel - very cold and indifferent. Sure, nature is also beautiful, and I can see where some might even see it as spiritual, although such beliefs (or non-beliefs) obviously vary from individual to individual.
While I can't justify or explain everything our society has done, at least in terms of improving technologies related to food production and other industries which enhance human quality of life - I think a lot of it was done with good intentions in mind. Through much of history, humans really didn't eat that much or didn't eat that well. Some years were better than others, I suppose. It's one of the most basic human needs, and humans have certainly devoted a great deal of time, energy, intellect, and resources to try to figure out this age-old dilemma of how to feed the people. Maybe we could be doing some things better, but we could be doing a heck of a lot worse, too.