Re: Humanism and Animal Rights (omitted link)


theBeaver wrote:

> Again, my original post started simply as a way of advertising a
> scholarly work on animal rights. The author has important things to
> say. Things that neither you nor I have thought of. And he IS
> addressing "what is really important" in his own opinion. His sense of
> what is important also coincides closely with my own, which in my case
> IS the product of a great deal of trial and error and thought. What is
> most important is preventing avoidable pain and suffering of living
> creatures, both human and non-human. That is essence of the "big
> picture". Humanism is not fully developed until it includes non-human
> life fairly in its formulations.

Pain and suffering can easily be avoided by offering instant death to
living creatures, and therefore that goal is a trivial goal, although
most of us may agree with it.

Humanism is a methodology, not a dogma. The author, you, and I don't
have any standing to speak for animals. Rights, as discussed by
humanists, refer to limitations on governmental power, not on the
actions of individuals. Laws are what form restrictions on individual
actions.

The question is whether you are concerned about individual animals or
the species. Some species are dangerous disease agents like small pox,
I hope that you aren't against wiping out those disease agents.

--
Ron

.

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