On the most fundamental level, why is killing other humans bad?

Question

and i mean it as fundamental as possible (forget about reoigion, values, past teachings, etc).

Answer 1

Well that's an easy question. We're animals. And the sole purpose of animals is to grow. When someone is murdered, the growth is hindered.

Answer 2

On the most fundamental level destroying anything is neither good nor bad. But as humans we have a problem dealing with this fundamental level because we do not live in a vacuum. There is Ethics, morality, religion, culture and human feelings to consider when the killing of other humans comes to mind. From a human point of view, taking a human being’s life, in the context of civilization, is an aberrant irrational, dehumanized, sick, perverted, immoral and criminal act. Outside of his civilized environment, the human animal does not need justification to kill.

Answer 3

At the most fundamental level, killing anything is bad because it deprives the killed from their opportunity to exist.

At the human to human level, because humans have so much capability, killing another human eliminates the possibility of that human interacting with the world again. Each human has great potential and we - as a species - have optimism and hope that each human will interact well with the world and the other humans in a society.

It is that hope that makes killing other humans bad. We hope that the other human could be a good person - a productive, loving member of our society. The fear of preventing that human from reaching their potential results in our feeling bad when that human is killed.

The reality, unfortunately, is that not all humans consider other humans worthy of respect and co-existance. When that happens, we - as a society - have to band together and do what is necessary. In most cases, that means remove the freedom of the offending human to interact in society (e.g. prison). But sometimes split-second decisions have to be made to save another life (e.g. hostage situation) or a repeat offender will never learn through incarceration that hurting others is bad, so they have to be killed (e.g. capital punishment).

In the global setting, some leaders believe that they lead through force. Their followers are willing (or enticed) into killing others in order to extend their idea of society onto other societies by force. The result is either genocide (if the victims don't resist) or war (if the victims resist and become opponents).

Capital punisment is bad, but unchecked murder is worse.
War is bad, but genocide is worse.

Answer 4

Okay, pretending I am an objective non-human observer, I still say there is no reason to indiscrimately slaughter any life form. Killing humans is as bad as, say, killing dolphins, or cats, or snakes. Action without purpose is evil, I can't remember who said that, but as objectively as I can get, it seems to be a fundamental truth.

Now, as an objective non-human observer watching humans kill humans, well, I suppose that's just the nature of the animal, none of my business.

Now, I am human and i think killing another person for no other reason other than they THINK differently or LOOK different, or (the most favoured excuse today) they have something we want is pitiable for a species that likes to pretend it is evolving to a "higher being".

Answer 5

On a fundamental level humans killing other humans is genocide -- the killing of like beings.

It is termination of an entity equal to yourself causing that person to cease existence, stop growing, learning, loving, and contributing to society.

Similarly, there are occasions where killing other humans is justified at a fundamental level -- such as in defense of person being attacked unjustly or one's country.

Answer 6

Instinct I suppose. A natural group of mammals move together, protecting the herd, and keeping forces both external and internal from hurting that group.

Humans, at the basic level, want to survive just like all the other animals. So we keep our group alive by not killing it off internally.

For any mammal, even humans, to kill another of our own species is detrimental because we then can not mate with that dead person and produce offspring.

Answer 7

According to Heidegger people, compared to things are open, which means they are not finished or done being what they should, Things instead can not be more than what they already are (dogs and rocks can be no more than dogs and rocks) Persons are humans but also protects, you can die being more than what you were at the time you were born.
So if you kill a human, you destroy that possibility.

Answer 8

You are changing the course of the future. The person you killed could've discovered a cure for Aids or might have had a future child who had a child that would bring peace to the middle east, and so on...

Answer 9

It's not always. I think it's right to take one life to save many.

But killing for any other reason is wrong because everyone should be allowed to live. Why should everyone be allowed to live? I can't explain that; it's one of the axioms of human society.

Answer 10

Becuase it lessens the evolutionary well-being of humanity when you start taking out members of the species.