I think we just have different values when it comes to wildlife, and animals. “Live and let live” “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you” as social contracts work for human interactions, but animals lack the capacity to understand those concepts and can’t hold up their end of the contract. A cat won’t live and let live, a cat will kill every bird it can get it’s hands on. Nature is a brutal unstable equilibrium, and human actions have made it more unstable. But as thinking animals we have the ability to reduce the harm we have caused. We need to reduce suffering where we can, and maintain the welfare not just of individual animals but of their populations and environments.
I don’t think others not being able to hold up their end of the contract is a good reason to drop the contract. There are plenty of humans unable to hold up that contract either due to mental illness or just being dealt a shitty hand in life, but they still deserve to be treated with compassion. In fact, lacking the ability to understand the contract should ellicit more compassion, not less
I think we just have different values when it comes to wildlife, and animals. “Live and let live” “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you” as social contracts work for human interactions, but animals lack the capacity to understand those concepts and can’t hold up their end of the contract. A cat won’t live and let live, a cat will kill every bird it can get it’s hands on. Nature is a brutal unstable equilibrium, and human actions have made it more unstable. But as thinking animals we have the ability to reduce the harm we have caused. We need to reduce suffering where we can, and maintain the welfare not just of individual animals but of their populations and environments.
I don’t think others not being able to hold up their end of the contract is a good reason to drop the contract. There are plenty of humans unable to hold up that contract either due to mental illness or just being dealt a shitty hand in life, but they still deserve to be treated with compassion. In fact, lacking the ability to understand the contract should ellicit more compassion, not less