Animals are ethical, simply because they have constructed no ethical guidelines to broach...humans do that.
Secondly, they're ethical because they are never unethical...that is...their motivations and intents are pure...no matter how we as humans choose to perceive them.
2007-12-12 06:53:19 · 16 answers · asked by ms.l_thoms 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
THIS IS NOT MY ARGUMENT otherwise I would have said, " is my argument valid?"
2007-12-12 10:24:48 · update #1
They can be ethical but can't be to depends wich animal or animals you are talking to.......
2007-12-12 06:56:31 · answer #1 · answered by C_man 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Being ethical requires one to ask and ponder the question: Why? About some action.
Why should I, or not, do this or that?
An animal is simply a programmed biological machine that reacts to its environment (albeit in a complicated manner). It has no free will in the sense of humans because it is entirely constrained within a physical existence. Humans have a metaphysical soul -- which gives them the power to reason and ask questions like why, how, what is the reason for this or that?
An animal like a dog can be taught behaviors such that it reacts to its environment in many apparent intelligible ways, but that dog cannot contemplate the reasons for its actions and decide if they are ethical.
This is why one cannot have an intelligible conversation with any animal -- even like a chimpanzee, though a chimp has a brain that is a good portion of the size of humans.
2007-12-13 01:00:29 · answer #2 · answered by Larry K 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You all should watch more discovery channel, could learn a lot from jane and her monkeys.
Any argument is valid this one just lacks any observational evidence to back it up. If you fallow any community species around for years and document all actions you'll see how good and evil animals can be. Weather it is fish, cats, dogs, or monkeys they all are part of complex social systems complete with their moral codes of conduct. Keeping in mind that the harsh necessities of survival twist these codes to the point of almost not been recognized as moral actions. The same can be said about human cultures that live in extreme environments where survival of the community has to come before survival of the individual. Infanticide is an example.
2007-12-12 16:16:26 · answer #3 · answered by grey_worms 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. How can you argue that because something has no ethical system, it is ethical? If anything, animals are amoral because they cannot conceive of a moral system. And how can you prove that animals' motivations are always pure? How do you define "pure," anyway? You're arguing based on claims that seem to be untrue; therefore, this is not a valid argument.
2007-12-12 14:57:17 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
If ethics/ guidelines are developed by humans, to have no ethical guidelines is to live without ethics at all. They are not unethical due to the fact that they have no ethics and therefore could also not be ethical. I find this argument invalid.
2007-12-12 14:59:16 · answer #5 · answered by CRSP 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I don't know how an animal could be deemed ethical when they don't have ethics. I think animals are just completely different than humans and should not necessarily be compared. Most animals act purely to survive (i.e. wild animals). Doesn't seem valid to me ...
2007-12-12 14:56:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
... perhaps incomplete. Animal ethics are not the same ethics as human ethics, but they exist.
For example, bees who continually get 'drunk' on the sap of the lime trees are not allowed back in the hive, ever, after the second or third infraction.
... there are lots of examples like this in the animal kingdom ... Elephants recognize the dead, Tigers keep their young with them for Two years in the frigid mountains of Etheopia, but one year in the African plains ...
Valid? IDK, but ARGUABLE? For sure!
2007-12-12 15:01:11 · answer #7 · answered by newenglandseers.com 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Wow. I know this sounds very pathetic and stupid of me, but I have said that exact same thing before. And yes, it's very valid.
Animals may bite, scratch, kill or whatnot. But it is not unethical. They do it out of instinct, their motivations are only to protect themselves or to eat or feed their young.
Anyone who argues to that is obviously ..well, not as educated. It's common sense. You just have to think deeply about it to understand it. Human beings are the only creatures who hurt other creatures out of revenge, anger, or things other than natural instinct.
2007-12-12 14:59:36 · answer #8 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
animals have no ethical behavior because that's a human concept... for a animal its all about the base instinct
2007-12-12 14:58:03 · answer #9 · answered by Itsatushy 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It sounds pretty valid to me. Everything violent they do is out of a need for food or protection of them and they're family. Maybe some mischivous monkeys who steal or something? Other than that they run of the god given instincts.
2007-12-12 14:58:45 · answer #10 · answered by jakenyr 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
If they have no ethical guidelines, than they cant be ethical. t
If there is a race that doesnt have a system of measurement, does that mean they are 6 feet tall?
2007-12-12 14:57:49 · answer #11 · answered by Latex 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋