Humans were torturing animals and each other long before Descartes. We basically don't need a justification for it, it is a natural tendency, just look at small

Humans were torturing animals and each other long before Descartes. We basically don't need a justification for it, it is a natural tendency, just look at small children (among all animals really, we are just so much better at everything). If anything we need a justification _against_.