Self awareness is probably the reason. You shouldn't kill anything that is aware it's alive. A plant is no more aware of the world than a rock. You could go ultra vegan and only eat plants that produce fruits and seeds (which are designed to be eaten to propagate the plant)
Vegetarianism: what if we didn't eat meat
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Self awareness is probably the reason. You shouldn't kill anything that is aware it's alive. A plant is no more aware of the world than a rock. You could go ultra vegan and only eat plants that produce fruits and seeds (which are designed to be eaten to propagate the plant)
Animals have no concept of life or death though, in the sense that we humans know that we will all some day die, whereas animals do not know this. They don't have plans, hopes, dreams, or a concept of the future. They experience the now, and can remember the past, that's about it.
For myself the main reason is due to the suffering caused (in the entire process) & the extinguishing of life for reasons I can't justify myself.
Coupled with the concept of ethical delegation, in that if I would not do X action for ethical reason (in this case if presented with an animal & a tool to kill them I'd pick the alternative option due to wanted to avoid suffering) simply another person doing it on my behalf isn't an acceptable solution.
For me it's more about being logically & ethically consistent with my own values, not as much about being a tree-hugger lol.
From my perspective eating animals which have died naturally in the wild or road-kill is perfectly fine (which isn't quite the same as a full on vegan).
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I have watched many documentaries (I know that's not science fact, but in them they quote studies) which say we are very naive when it comes to animal awareness. They absolutely do have a great deal of similarities to us and are very aware of death.
Mostly all they lack is an acute awareness of time, and the future. (so their eventual death) but it is obvious that most animals don't want to die in the present, otherwise they would stand there and let it happen.
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Yeah, but will to live / fight or flight are things instinctual to the core of almost all actively alive organisms, including us humans. So I still don't believe that death is a concept to animals, it's more like the continued drive to stay alive, without actually knowing the consequences of not doing so.
Yet you can clearly see most animals experience sadness, friendship, dependency, fear, happiness.
I'm not denying your right, how can we ever know, but for me if an animal can have enough awareness to be a friend and in some cases save people or save another animal, it must have been aware why it was doing that.
A heard of animals protect each other because they are aware of the consequences in my opinion. If it was fight or flight, they would all run away no matter the situation.
Those emotions are all present-time, or based on past experiences. Animals can't look forward to something, as an example, as the concept of time is a very human thing. As an example, my cat has been waking up earlier as a result of the sun rising. We are going to bed at the same time as normal, but is an active/present-time event (the sun rising) that is triggering this. If he knew it was actually only 5am and we don't get up til 6, perhaps he would start meowing for us to get up.
Well, if it were 'Flight or flight', then maybe.
Those emotions are all present-time, or based on past experiences. Animals can't look forward to something, as an example, as the concept of time is a very human thing. As an example, my cat has been waking up earlier as a result of the sun rising. We are going to bed at the same time as normal, but is an active/present-time event (the sun rising) that is triggering this. If he knew it was actually only 5am and we don't get up til 6, perhaps he would start meowing for us to get up.
Well, if it were 'Flight or flight', then maybe.
Having owned and looked after horses I can say some animals do have a sense of forward and concept of time. I would say a horses concept of time is better then most humans when unassisted by technology. My horses could tell when it was 5pm for example all year around.
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He literally didn't mean that animals can't work out if it's time to be fed or not.
Plants do feel and respond to stimuli. They have the equivalent of a nervous system. It works differently but they do feel. That's how they respond to touch and move when you touch them.
Its never been proven most animals are self-aware. Some are but what about the ones that are not? What if plants are no more aware of the world then some animals?
I'll give you that, having had loads of experience with horses over the past few years (ex has one), they certainly seem to be something special, even beyond our usual domesticated house pets.
Those emotions are all present-time, or based on past experiences. Animals can't look forward to something, as an example, as the concept of time is a very human thing. As an example, my cat has been waking up earlier as a result of the sun rising. We are going to bed at the same time as normal, but is an active/present-time event (the sun rising) that is triggering this. If he knew it was actually only 5am and we don't get up til 6, perhaps he would start meowing for us to get up.
Well, if it were 'Flight or flight', then maybe.
Haha , opps. I see the stupidity in what I said in that last line. Doh.
On a lighter note, I keep waking up when the sun rises atm, so don't blame him.
Mammals are definitely higher up on the awareness scale than fish and insects.
I wasn't talking about feeding. I was talking about being aware of what time of day it was and what time of year. My horse for example would get all excited shortly before it was time to change to a new field. She was aware something she liked was going to happen shortly in the future. How is that not time awareness? How is that not classed as looking forward to something?
Plants don't have brains. Without a brain, an organism can not process feelings. In other words they can not feel pain etc. It's true that they can respond to stimuli but that's as far it go's. Plants do not have nervous systems either, or anything that even comes close to a nervous system.
Really, if you look at it on that basis eating pigs is by the far the worse ethically.
"It is said that they have emotion, sensitivity, hurt feelings and easily bored. They are very sociable to humans and they are trainable. Some say they are more trainable than dogs. In laboratories, pigs play video games better than primates. Pigs can also dream and recognize their own names."
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Well, routines are a bit different, they are learnt from past experiences. Animals are very good at learning routines, even learning tricks forms part of that. Teach a dog a trick, rewarding them with a treat. They learn that doign said trick earns them a treat, however, they still only do the trick when presented with active stimuli, be it a voice/body command that has been associated with the reward, or seeing you eating food, so doing the trick to get in on that action.
I've never seen a pet just randomly do a trick, expecting to be rewarded. There is always an external trigger.
But that could be easily said about most animals. Is saying walkies a response to the word or a response to realisation of a future event based on a words.
Most animals can and will become excited about things that have yet to happen.
I have many times. My brother some how taught our cat to raise it's paw when hungry. He need nothing to keep doing that to you, until it became annoying.
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My ex had a pig growing up, says never has she had such an amazingly "human" pet, above even her horse of 28 years! Still, they are bloody yummy!