tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post802068746032625845..comments2023-10-14T09:40:06.690-05:00Comments on Jean Kazez: The Sloth ProblemJean Kazezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-90255438005945795762009-08-26T17:34:18.060-05:002009-08-26T17:34:18.060-05:00Jean: Have you ever looked at a rat's teeth?...Jean: Have you ever looked at a rat's teeth? They bite, and besides, they're too fast to catch.s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-60949371064107414142009-08-26T17:29:21.185-05:002009-08-26T17:29:21.185-05:00Oh come on, why not just catch it and put it outsi...Oh come on, why not just catch it and put it outside?Jean Kazezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-43281181660019032182009-08-26T17:18:16.905-05:002009-08-26T17:18:16.905-05:00I defy anyone, even the Buddha himself, who has...I defy anyone, even the Buddha himself, who has met a rat the size of a small cat in his kitchen in the middle of the night, to value it for its capacities. I defy anyone, even Jesus Christ, not to loathe and fear said rat. I defy anyone, even Saint Francis of Assisi, to not buy the next morning the most powerful rat poison on the market, without the slightest consideration for s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-16376475587396709492009-08-26T15:17:09.477-05:002009-08-26T15:17:09.477-05:00rtk--re: Repulsiveness of comparing value of diffe...rtk--re: Repulsiveness of comparing value of different lives. I think that's a healthy first reaction. I don't think we can avoid making comparisons, though, so should think through what way of doing so makes the most sense.Jean Kazezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-76742896167670820752009-08-26T15:14:06.876-05:002009-08-26T15:14:06.876-05:00Very helpful list of options.
I'm going to ch...Very helpful list of options.<br /><br />I'm going to choose #1, but say that while the sloth's life is really no more valuable than the squirrel monkey's life (just as a life), there's something more there to be admired. Like some plants are more worth protecting from extinction than others, so the sloth is especially worth protecting. We don't want sloths to disappear like Jean Kazezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-30224008459391331732009-08-26T14:14:50.930-05:002009-08-26T14:14:50.930-05:00Hi Jean,
there are perhaps 3 possibilities
The fi...Hi Jean,<br /><br />there are perhaps 3 possibilities<br />The first is that the capacities view is correct, but our considered intuition about sloths is wrong. Their lives are less valuable (to them) than the life of a squirrel monkey is to the squirrel monkey. We are mistaken to judge the sloth higher just because it has a particularly unusual (and endearing) lifestyle.<br /><br />The second isUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11482806268276089591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-77269452641871591412009-08-26T13:38:49.050-05:002009-08-26T13:38:49.050-05:00The whole idea that any creature has some kind of ...The whole idea that any creature has some kind of value that varies from animal to animal or even bug to bug is very repulsive to me. I can understand usefulness of a specific kind, like tastes better (chicken preferred to chimp) or kills more annoying bugs (like spiders). But some sort of almost poetic value sounds like religion to me.rtkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11565006451158819782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-9493357978588577942009-08-26T11:53:25.833-05:002009-08-26T11:53:25.833-05:00Alex, It's interesting that you see Regan as s...Alex, It's interesting that you see Regan as somewhat inegalitarian (and I guess he is, compared to Francione), because in the grand scheme of things, his views are extremely egalitarian. Other pro-animal writers make a much bigger deal out of human-animal differences. What I am exploring is the notion of non-egalitarian animal advocacy. It sounds like an oxymoron, but hopefully the book Jean Kazezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-28157615460983353602009-08-26T11:19:53.951-05:002009-08-26T11:19:53.951-05:00I think one could be dissatisfied with the whole a...I think one could be dissatisfied with the whole approach--with looking at value as being related to capacities, but hopefully the book makes a strong case for that. <br /><br />What worries me is cases where it's actually incapacity that is impressive. That's the case with the sloth. What's amazing about the sloth is what it can't do, and how that's adaptive for it.Jean Kazezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-50858835155135232002009-08-26T10:26:27.616-05:002009-08-26T10:26:27.616-05:00Rats (the kind that live in sewers) have a lot of ...Rats (the kind that live in sewers) have a lot of capacities, but people are not likely to value them.s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-41306142430348103342009-08-26T09:41:16.388-05:002009-08-26T09:41:16.388-05:00Most people tend also to value less animals that t...Most people tend also to value less animals that they fear (and are ugly): for example, snakes. I don't how snakes rate in terms of capacities, but it would be very difficult to convince most people to value them. Lions and tigers inspire fear, but they are beautiful and of course very distant from most of us.s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-67901345736025006232009-08-26T09:39:14.382-05:002009-08-26T09:39:14.382-05:00This approach seems similar to Tom Regan's &qu...This approach seems similar to Tom Regan's "subject-of-a-life" theory, which I think is problematic:<br /><br />"...I see no reason to restrict the class of protected animals to those that Regan describes as 'subjects-of-a-life'. Some animals and some humans may lack 'the ability to initiate action in pursuit of their desires and goals' and they may have a mostAlex Chernavskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08200015595839585212noreply@blogger.com