on 10/13/00 19:09, Steven Bissell at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> So, if we suppose morality in animals we have to believe these are example
> of immoral behavior, no?
Of course I would say yes. But this begs the question, "What is immoral?"
(just as badly as it begs to know what is moral.) And in this context, I
would have to say what is immoral is what is outside the bounds of one's
"ecological niche." So in the context of the Owl, or in the context of, say,
chickens that poke each others eyes out in stuffed factory cages, it appears
appropriate even to say "insanity" was at work to drive some being out of
its "appropriate" ecological niche; I say this just as I would say the
amoral ways we treat our planet are signs of a collective insanity, a
clinical syndrome affecting our very psyches such that we step out of the
bounds of what is properly human.
Regardless, I firmly agree that when we acknowledge the existence of a moral
life (however vague that sounds) in non-humans we by definition acknowledge
their capacity to act immorally. That in a way bolsters my position.
Descartes would say the animals are machines, they participate in gang rape,
cats beat mice around for fun, etc., but they do so by automated response. I
would say any animal has the capacity to do both good and bad just as humans
do.
Is a cat beating a mouse around for fun stepping out of its ecological
niche? Well, I think these sorts of threads lead into a great deal of
complexity. With this particular question the complexity appears to be this:
cats these days are fed processed commercial food, therefore they have no
real need to eat mice. When a modern-day cat/pet comes upon an animal, there
is part of it that knows it is a predator, but part of it that knows it's
removed from all that. My idea here is that a "wild" cat would not just beat
a mouse around for fun. It would find the mouse and have its dinner. I
believe we humans are confused in similar ways about the morality of our
food systems, etc.
Adam
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|