why is it wrong to kill?

Question

please think about this before calling me crazy or quote scripture at me!

everything thats alive will die its the only certainty we can be sure of

Every human has killed we do it everyday without even noticing it you tread on bugs, pick flowers, etc our existance is based on us killing other life forms which we then eat (yes you vegitarians and vegan still have to eat plants and there alive too) but this dosent bother us but if i was to kill another human then i'd be seen as a criminal, madman, murderer and harshly persucuted for it why is this?

"thou shall not kill" we kill everyday we are the most effective predators on the planet

nutster> you missed the point your link is about going to war for the wrong reasons not killing. the purpose of war is control not to kill

please note i do belive its wrong to kill humans this is a philosophical question about mans perception of killing humans

sorry another addition this time for amp> we dont only kill animals for food, many die from sport or even for fun and we dont know if animals can feel or think as we do

Answer 1

Skipping over the Commandment. Okay, then. Will you still accept a Biblical response? We are created in the image of God. Humans are the only beings on the planet to know things are right and wrong. We have a conscience. To kill another human being is not simply frowned upon in most societies. Every human on this earth knows a million things. The mysteries of the human mind have not fully been unlocked. For instance, the way a cookie can bring to someone's mind the memories of their mother. And maybe it's just me, but have you ever noticed a baby's foot? Inside that tiny foot are the bones of an adult. They are simply much smaller. Or how someone's body begins to heal a scratch before the person even realizes they are hurt. With all the wonders of the human system, it seems a waste to kill someone just because they dissed your haircut at school.

Answer 2

I will not criticise you, because I had the same question and have thus discussed it with a friend who is a lawyer. Simply as that, humans are in our subconsciousness termed as higher creatures who we do not kill, since we are part of them. I see I have troubles to explain you, but after I had discussion with my lawyer friend, I got it and I am not bothering about it anymore. I think it has also something to do with controlling anarchy down, performing order, it is a kind of security. How would you feel it this was not a taboo and everyone would be allowed? Why I am not criticising you, is because I had the same question and it went like this - we kill animals (though I cannot do that, was vegetarian for 9 years), but when we think of killing a human, we cannot, we stop, we see a barrier, obstacle. How, why? Don't get me wrong, I am against any violence, I cannot kill an animal, but I had this question. I wondered what makes humans to stop when it comes to human being? And then why some simply do not stop here and go further (murderers)? I wanted to know what differs me from a murderer, what he lacks that he does it, cause I cannot. Well, my lawyer friend is very philosophical, has good arguments, is very informative person to talk to, so I enjoyed our conversation and got my answer. I am no more asking that. So - find a lawyer or doctor and discuss with them. Good luck.

Answer 3

Is it?
Then humans are 'wrong' as we do kill as you point out.
For food by accident, not knowing, for sport.
We kill for our beliefs and our opinions.
Now we have got clever at it we are the masters of slaughter. We now don't have to kill for survival we get others to do that for us as a job!
Tuck into a a 'big mac' as you read this!

Killing is to take a life. And living is about this cycle.
Look at nature as you point out.

So if you eat meat, then go and kill the animal yourself.

If you eat plant, then grow them yourself.

As this is no longer an option for most people what shall they do?

What would be the intelligent answer?

Spend sometime with the starving and learn.

Watch and observe the limits of starvation.

Biology and science can help you understand.

Religions can preach.

Laws govern you and your actions.


To kill another human for what? Food?
You could eat someone you knew? Your mother maybe?
You could kill just for the sake of it?

What then is the state of your mind and what has driven you?

Answer 4

Aside from the fact that it's morally abhorrent & illegal & probably the worst sin you can commit, it is wrong to kill because you have no right to take someone else's life. You really don't even have the right to take your own life. God decides when you go. Or if you don't believe in God then nature or the universe or destiny or whatever force shapes our existence decides when your time is right. You don't want to tamper with nature. Besides it is wrong to infringe on someone else's rights. What could be a worse infringement than depriving someone of their life. Comparing human life to the killing of plants or insects is a bit of a stretch. Insects don't think and feel as we do. It is sad that we kill animals but that is for food (unless you are a vegetarian) and you still can't compare animals with people. They don't have our capacity for thought, feeling etc.

Yes everyone will die but we have no right to shorten their lifespan.

Live & let live!

Answer 5

Killing and hence dieing is as natural a thing to do as breathing. We do kill each other every day under the guise of economic growth, religion, security etc. The difference is the average man or woman is told that killing is wrong so that civilisation will remain on the course that it has always been on. Our rulers, heads of state, religious leaders and the like, do not want us going around ruining the image they are trying to mould us into. They have no problem ordering the death of thousands. Yet in order for them to remain in power they must have a monopoly over death, and for that matter life. The only reason that we accept the statement, "thou shalt not kill" and other statements of the like is that we want to expand the species. Now it seems that even this argument is failing in that we seem intent on destroying the plant we live on. A virus will kill every thing around it including its host. We are a virus. We look down on killing each other directly but we will when we consider some one as being the 'other'. Before we destroy this plant we will most likely send out samples of our DNA to other plants so that perhaps life similar to ours will start up there as well. Hence the virus comparison is complete. Wow i went so off track sorry.........

Answer 6

It is wrong because everyone who is born has the same right to life.

When someone kills another person, that person has taken away an inalienable right. It is not their place to do so.

You are correct in your view that everyone kills living beings (bugs, etc).

There is a vast difference, though, between unwittingly stepping on an organism in the soil and crushing it with your foot and deliberately killing someone for their money or whatever. It is a question of degree.

Hence, I pick an apple to eat it. The next year, the tree bears fruit again. I kill a human being, there is no replacement for that individual.

As for killing another in self defence, it saddens me that people are produced who cause these sorts of situations to occur in the first place. Here we are, the most 'noble' of all known creation and yet the worst aspects of behaviour devolve us.

Perhaps that answers your question somewhat.

Answer 7

It's not always wrong to kill humans, btw.

If someone you'd never met before, and had never offended in any way, were rushing at you with an axe, screaming 'I'M GONNA KILL YOU!', and you happened to have a gun in your hand, and that person were right in front of you and raising the axe to strike you in the head, with every obvious intention of killing you, and there were witnesses, and you shot that person with your gun, then no reasonable jury could convict you of anything. You would have killed in self-defence. There can be no coherent arguments against killing someone in such circumstances.

However, 'self-defence' gets a bit blurrier once it's extended to the concept of a state defending itself.

It's not always wrong to kill people. Just most of the time. The hard part is in working out when it's okay. It's quite a lot easier to invent justifications for when it's less okay.

Answer 8

The emotions of mankind determine if you are a madman , murderer, or a criminal . Did you ever notice that the more costly an item is when it is stolen , the more time in jail the person gets ? The thief that stole the tennis shoes is still as much of a thief as the person that steals the car . But ,what makes one more of an evil deed ,than the other, is by what we esteem
( emotion ) . And people esteem other people higher than any other living thing .

Answer 9

Alright then.
In the animal world the rule is "eat or starve, or be eaten." To eat you must kill your lunch, wether it is organic or plant. This is the life cycle of the Planet`s biological existence.
Now, humans have this evolutionary advancement called mind (you know big brain, intelligence) which ultimately led to the creation of supermarkets. So, when you want to eat, you don`t have to go in the woods to hunt for your dinner.
In the wild, animals kill only to feed themselves. Only the human do it for pleasure (again due to our exquisite mind powers).
It`s not just a question of moral, it is inmost feeling and perception that life is something to be cherished and cared for.
If you really don`t know why people usually don`t kill not just other people, but animals on whole, then you should consult someone who will charge you good to explain you the things, that you lack intellectual abillity to explain yourself.

Answer 10

Well all the great philosopher's separate us from the rest of the animals because of our ability to reason. We are different from the other animals.

The other thing is with this power of reason we decide what is comfortable, including emotional. When something disturbs this emotional comfort, whether it be the murder of our peers or murder of our pets, we find an inbalance in our comfort...or an injustice so to say. Therefore the majority of people come together and make a social contract or laws, to protect themselves from this discomfort in general.

That is where the controversy of the death penalty comes in. When those that search for comfort, that may have been disturbed through a murder, conflict with this that search for prevention of discomfort, through the prevention of a sanctioned killing.

That's looking at the matter in the social and legal view. Pretty much, many different philosophical views will believe for various reasons that murder is wrong. Then they come together and make the social contract to say that within their society it is wrong.

(added edit)

Oh and this aside from killing out of necessity to live and maybe its just an answer to the lawful aspect of it. Maybe. :/