Reply: Meaning of Life for Animals

In her recent post, Becky wrote a quick summary of her opinion regarding general animal treatment, and I had been interested in responding to it. Here is a quick excerpt for whomever hadn't had the chance to read through it:

"Animals don't have complex goals like us so I feel like that reason alone justifies humans eating them. All cows do is eat grass all day... that's the sad truth. So what is the meaning of their lives? They cannot create a new invention, they cannot think complex thoughts, they cannot benefit society in anyway except for feeding us, so why don't we just accept their contribution to the world and to us?"

Taken line-by-line, I find immense fault in this variation of thought. Much defense of animal slaughter or mistreatment comes from an inherently subjective standpoint, in the sense that we see their lives through a sort of "lens" of human perception. We access their behaviors by our standards, impose our own morality or immorality upon them, and patronize them for their incompleteness. Ultimately, this logic is fallacy. Their competency cannot be compared to our own; all creatures have evolved with respectively distinct characteristics, and each is uniquely suited for its surroundings.

Many also cite man's dominance as a natural necessity, claiming the mistreatment (and/or consumption) of animals as our "obligation" for essentially dominating the food chain. While it may be true that humanity is born with the potential to claim dominion over less intellectually capable creatures, most societies have long since surpassed this--and needlessly so. From my perspective, the superfluous harvesting of animals, and the unquestionably horrific conditions in which we do so can render no morally sensible defense.

"...the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."

Henry Beston

--Aaron