It boils down to this: are other creatures merely means to whatever ends we seek, or are living creatures here for reasons beyond our own? If I hold with the latter, I’ll pay the extra couple of bucks for the humanely raised meat and eggs on my plate. I’ll use my money to buy make-up that didn’t harm animals, and I’ll be willing to pay higher taxes to have oversight of animal treatment in medical research.
Those are my ethical reasons. But it’s the wonder of all the cats and dogs I’ve known that is the real reason…
There have been some great articles recently on how we tend to treat our pets more and more as humans—which often means a dog can’t live as a real dog, and a cat like a real cat.
Seeing your pics of that lithe black cat reminded me of our last cat, Milo, and how much we miss him.
We got Magic and Taylor after our cat Aleph passed. All three have brought joy – and some dead mice. It’s clear to me that they have their own lives and purposes that are not human. I don’t think it’s possible to make them over in my human image; more importantly, why would I want to? Thanks, David!