:Humans possess mental faculties that place them a rung above animals on the moral scale. And if you have a chimpanzee with the equivalent intelligence of a human 5 year old, and a severely retarded man with the intelligence of a 2 year old, then by your logic, we should experiment on the man? So much for the mental faculties argument...
: Now, let me state another general principle: The suffering of a human should not be made subservient to the suffering of an animal. This follows from the fact that humans are of greater moral worth than an animal.
Says who, you? Not only that, but if we can prevent the suffering of human and nonhuman animals, we (as moral agents) should do so.
: Again this principle does not always hold firm. There will be occasions where the suffering of a human is not great enough to warrant an animal suffering. But i do not think anyone doubts that a man is right to torture an animal to death if he is faced with either that or the death of his wife and 17 children.
Yes, and when that ridiculous and highly unlikely "lifeboat" situation
arises, give me a call.
: A similar consideration applies in relation to the hopi. If the suffering that the hopi must endure as a result of no longer being allowed to sacrifice eagles is greater than the suffering of the eagles then it would be immoral not to let the hopi continue in their ancient practices.
Oh the poor Hopi. They can't engage in a religious ritual just so a bird doesn't die a slow and agonizing death. You really know how to tip the scales, Cope.
: This last point will no doubt be fallen upon with relish by my opponents who shall say that i am heartless or irrational to place a religous practice above the life of any creature. I do not believe this is the case at all.
Funny, you've been arguing that all along.
: An aNIMAL can die only in a physical sense. A human on the other hand can suffer a spiritual as well as a physical demise. Who has ever seen an animal so broken in spirit that they have been unable to raise themselves from their bed or so sunken in despair that they throw themselves off a cliff. I myself have never seen this. (I do not doubt that animals possess some crude form of emotion but i think it a mere trifle in comparison to humanity).
Shows what you know about animals: zip. Anyone who knows animals, from zookeepers to people with pets, knows that animals possess rich emotional lives and can become so depressed, they starve themselves to death. As for souls, I can guarantee you that animals have souls -- it's humans, the only animals who knowingly and willfully torture other animals (including humans) I wonder about.
: Given what i have read, i believe that there must at least be a presumption that the hopi's very being is so tied to their religous practices that if this sacred practice were to be taken away from them (assuming one could find a way to successfully enforce the rule in any case, see below) they would be left to live in spiritual turmoil. Their existence would be made so base as to not be not worth living. To disallow the practice would drive a wedge between the hopi and their gods. Would you tell a christian they can no longer worship christ?
The Hopi are human beings. Human beings can adapt. You ought to give them more credit, Mr. Animal-Sacrifice-Is-Essential.
: In support of these matters i refer my opponents AGAIN to bernand williams (perhaps this time they will bother to read it):
I disagree with Mr. Williams (and unless he's God, I have every right to).
: As a final point i would ask my opponents to consider exactly how they would enforce their 'moral' law. Would you fine the hopi at first? Then as they continued send them to gaol? Would that not be unjust? Could the hopi not in any case raise the defense of necessity (which is really another moral exception).
I'd enforce it like we enforce any other law against animal cruelty. Fines, then jail time, and rightfully so.
: How would one stop the hopi taking the eagles? Place federal agents at all known eagle nests? Or perhaps ultimately the solution would be to relocate the hopi?
