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>> the most basic consideration: that they have “the capacity to experience pain, distress or harm”. Those crabs can dish out some pain with those pincers. The
by phkahler 5y ago
>> the most basic consideration: that they have “the capacity to experience pain, distress or harm”.
Those crabs can dish out some pain with those pincers. They eat their prey alive too. That's not an argument for or against treating them some way, just that they aren't some poor innocent animals either.
- adriand 5y agoYes, they are in fact innocent: they are of course “free from legal guilt or fault” but it’s the second definition from Merriam-Webster that really sums it up, “free from guilt or sin especially through lack of knowledge of evil”.
- richardw 5y agoThey seem innocent to me. They’re very likely not aware of the pain they cause. They don’t weigh up moral dilemmas and discuss them. They also have no ability to choose. They can’t code for a living, can’t play piano and be vegan. They just do what instinct and physical ability does. Evolution chose what they do and they can’t interrogate it. Experiments could probably be set up to test this but I’m not sure it’s worth it.
- fludlight 5y agoI'll go further: there are no poor innocent carnivores or omnivores. All are brutal killers without regard for the suffering of others. Nature is struggle, awful, awful struggle. But humans have the capacity to be more...humane.