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So it's not gathering when we pick berries because the plant prepared them for spreading its seeds, not for us to eat and end up in our trash. Or we take the tr
by fredsir 7y ago
So it's not gathering when we pick berries because the plant prepared them for spreading its seeds, not for us to eat and end up in our trash. Or we take the tree where the bird nested in, or the beetle, or the abe? Or when we take whatever else we take that something else prepared for another use?
It doesn't fit nicely in our societal view of "yours" and "mine", but whenever you take something, whatever it is, you are almost always taking it away from something else. Surely "thieving" is gathering. It's just a kind of gathering that society has decided is not okay, except in all the cases where society says it's okay, like taking the animals home, or the native humans, and so on.
- luckylion 7y ago> So it's not gathering when we pick berries because the plant prepared them for spreading its seeds The plant isn't someone.
- fredsir 7y agoInsignificant detail.
- mcbutterbunz 7y ago> So it's not gathering when we pick berries because the plant prepared them for spreading its seeds, not for us to eat Didn't many berries evolve so that animals would eat the berries and their seeds would end up in their feces? I'm not sure how to say that without it sounding like a cause and effect. Plants didn't _intend_ to evolve so that animals would eat the berries and carry their seeds away, it was more a symbiotic relationship.
- fredsir 7y agoSure. Point being it’s all gathering. No difference when you gather berries or other peoples stuff against their will.
- Noos 7y agoStealing isn't gathering because we have a philosophical framework behind the concept of property. This is on top of the physical act. If this guy got shot stealing from people, we wouldn't just call it killing; because we have a philosophical framework about justice and retribution. If you were consistent, you'd have to be okay that this guy would be treated like a fox who raids a henhouse; up to the personal whims of the aggrieved.
- fredsir 7y agoIf I was gathering your stuff without permission, it’s stealing. If a bear or a person not part of society does it, it’s not stealing, it’s gathering. The myths of society are only that: collective beliefs inside society.
- xaedes 7y agoI see no problem with consistency: From the hermits point of view, outside of the society with its philosophical framework, it is just gathering. Society may call this theft. I may also jell at the crow stealing my unwatched food "you thief, give me back my food!". That is from my point of view, not the crows'. To society the hermit still is human and we have morals and ethics that shall prevent us treating him as just a raiding wild animal / fox.