At 11:50 AM 07/08/99 -0600, Steven Bissell wrote:
>Well, just because someone is driving a SUV or has a high powered rifle
>(night vision scopes are illegal in most states, I don't know about SC) is
>no indication of their metaphysical thinking. Consider the cro-magnon
>hunter. They hunted in groups using crude spears and crippled the animal,
>then allowed it to die a rather slow and probably painful death. The modern
>"sport" hunter in their SUV kills, mostly, very quickly. I don't know for
>certain the metaphysical thinking of cro-magnon, but I'm making some risky
>conclusions based on cave painting. Don't you think your conclusions based
>on the type of automobile and weapon is risky as a basis for assuming
>methaphysical thought process of the modern hunter?
>Steven
>
>
Lisa McLeod wrote
Granted that one's mind, one's metaphysical thinking is not manifested in
one's external trappings, but one's actions and intentions do serve as an
indicator of one's conception of one's own existence and the relationship
between oneself and others. Hunting (killing) for no other purpose than
recreation, that is, fun (as opposed to the need to survive) indicates, at
least to me, a profound lack of respect and care for the dignity of life. It
further indicates that the hunter regards his/her own existence, interests,
and pleasure as separate from and superior to other life forms. Just because
the kill is quick does not negate this absence of respect and care.
McLeod
Chris Perley here
How does it follow that someone not hunting for food is showing "a profound
lack of respect and care for the dignity of life"? Depends on the
circumstances surely. It is quite possible that the death of one thing may
be a very ecologically sensitive thing to do. This is, of course, premised
on a view that humans are part of a greater ecosystem - and that death is a
necessary process for life. Ultimately, if you choose to value one element
of the ecology by saving it, or by encouraging its propagation (perhaps
because it has big eyes and is often nicknamed Bambi), you are sentencing
another ecological entity to death. The charismatic megafauna and megaflora
win - the smelly, invisible, large teethed, smelly, prickly, flora & fauna
lose. Is this showing a more "profound lack of respect and care for the
dignity of life"? I think not.
Those who sit in suburbia and quale at the sight of blood, while pretending
to be environmentally ethical but without ecology as a basis for their
ethics are treading on thin ice.
But this is all repetitious of former posts.
Chris P
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