RE: Hunting

From: Greg Jordan (jordan@chuma.cas.usf.edu)
Date: Tue May 06 2003 - 13:56:39 MDT

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    On Tue, 6 May 2003, gts wrote:

    > Are you saying then that hunting for survival needs is also evil?

    No, I am not saying that.

    > I thought it was your position that sport-hunting is evil because, unlike
    > carnivores in nature, humans do not need meat to survive. If that is your
    > position then it would imply that hunting is not evil to you when a lost
    > human has no choice but to hunt in order to survive.

    Yes, that would be my position. Hunting then would be an unfortunate
    necessity. But some people can put all sorts of things above their own
    survival. I just would not be one to put the appreciation of animals in
    that category. I'd also burn priceless paintings if I was freezing to
    death, to keep warm. :)

    > The hunting behavior and the suffering of the animal will be the same
    > regardless of the hunter's motivation. So then if sport-hunting is evil but
    > survival-hunting is not, then the evil must not emanate from the act of
    > hunting or from the suffering of the animal. The evil must instead emanate
    > from the brain activity of the sport-hunter.

    The calculation of value is made by the person considering the
    possibility of hunting - whether it would be better to hunt
    recreationally, or not to. It only makes sense to judge it from the human
    perspective. From the animal perspective, we are evil regardless of our
    motives, as you say. If they had our intelligence, maybe they would not
    totally blame us for eating to survive, any more than I would blame a
    hungry mountain lion for attacking me (but still, I would fight it if I
    could).

    gej
    resourcesoftheworld.org
    jordan@chuma.cas.usf.edu



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