Thursday, February 27, 2014
Stewardship
Looking over my notes from class, one statement that I have jotted down is "Adopting the assumption that if all living things were treated as we treat humans, the world would be a better place". That really stuck out to me. I am a firm believer in the beliefs of preservation and the ethical treatment of animals, but I am also a believer in the food chain. I don't think that animals should be treated in the same manner that humans are. Now that doesn't mean that I am not a fan of the Endangered Species Act or that I don't think that we should do all we can to preserve a species's habitat, but I do think that the human species is on the top of the food chain. We are the dominant predators and should thus act in a sustainable manner toward that goal. For thousands of years man lived off the land, hunting - that is only human nature. I think that we should follow suit in a sustainable way. Humans are the dominant species on the Earth and we need to take care of it in such a manner. Stewardship is a concept that we should be focusing on as a species, and if we could parallel that thought with sustainability I think that the species as a whole would be in a much better place. Humans are also animals and we should work within our food chain acting in that manner - respecting animals, but also not losing the fact that we are not better than other animals- just different.
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Lots of good things in here to think about; your post inspired a long(ish) reply; I posted this on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely Abbey. No matter how we approach this idea of how we ought to use animals, and to what extent. We certainly must always treat them with respect, while keeping in mind that there are different degrees of value between species as well. One question I would ask however, is that even though human beings are a dominant species and at the top of the food chain, in today's world we do not necessarily need to eat animals, or use them for anything else like science. In fact, it is healthier to live on a vegetarian diet. With that being said, I completely understand your claim and believe that it is human nature as well, but how would you address this particular defense?
ReplyDeleteAbbey, I like that you pin-pointed the middle ground between respecting animals as humans and respecting the basic instinctual nature of the food chain. Sometimes I have trouble finding that in-between spot when we're arguing different theories. Thanks for clearing it up a bit for me, you're analysis made it easier to understand the overlap of both theories.
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