That figures. I prefer baloney with mustard:^) I assert that by reducing human beings to the level of animals, you destroy the foundation of your own moral condemnation of savagery, rendering your moral condemnations self-refuting
You deny the charge. Alrighty, let us demonstrate with a proposed reply as exhibit "A". What is your principled moral basis for saying that a man [an ape with a scarcity of hair, large brains, and speech] ought not to roast a kitten over hot coals for amusement?
Why the insistence upon declaring yourself (i.e., humans) so special on a supernatural basis instead of seeing yourself on a spectrum of intelligence and ability?
Why do you assume the two are mutually exclusive?
I'm not shamed or embarrassed by my kinship to critters
Why in the world would you be? Naturalism as a philosophy does not provide a coherent explantion for shame or embarrassment because there is no real evil or guilt in an impersonal universe is nothing but the result of a gigantic, cosmic accident of purely physical forces.
Cordially,
You know you could have made it simpler by just saying "if you say that persons do not transcend animals in this regard, which seems to be what you are arguing, then you are cutting off the branch on which you sit. "
Oh that's right, you said that already.
I am not ashamed to admit I feel a kinship with animals myself. I feel kinship with humans too but there are some cases where killing is necessary (e.g. self defense, capital punishment, war) or at least the lesser of two evils. I feel a closer kinship with humans than animals.
I love my dog, I would have a very hard time butchering animals I had raised on a farm if I had them. In fact, the other week I rescued a baby robin from what I thought was heat stress. I fed it for a few hours, but I soon realized it had a prolapsed cloaca and was doomed without veterinary treatment. You should have witnessed the turmoil in my mind. I could not for the life of me kill it myself but gave it to my hubby to do, since he wasn't emotionally entangled already. I spent the next half hour trying not to cry.
That being said, I will ardently go out and pursue and harvest up to four deer this fall. (we have party hunting so conceivably I could fill my hubby's two tags as well as my own...) because I will not be emotionally attached to the deer.