For me, all life forms are precious works of art billions of years in the making. We have to have some principals here. I always capture and release insects in my home. I do kill mosquitoes and wipe up the ants that scout an area and single a food source to the troops. Better than wiping up hundreds of them. I could never justify killing anything just because I can. All life “wants” to live. Get your magnifying glass out and checkout insects. It’s a whole new world.
How does this extend to things like flies (hygiene risk) or bugs that bite? Presumably you'd make an exception for those and how would you argue for it?
I think the invasive species argument could be seen in the same light as you see the killing of the lantern fly. I'm thinking specifically about plants / landscape restoration ecology. When I see a big patch of lily of the valley or garlic mustard or creeping bell flower, I get sad about all the plants they've snuffed out / are preventing from living, plants that are better for the ecosystem, that provide food for insects and birds. It brings me joy to rip out creeping bell flower because now the asters and goldenrods it's trying to take over can stick around longer and bloom. (It's also easy to pull! Lily of the valley is really difficult to pull so it brings me no joy, only hard work). It's sometimes hard to see the threads between a lanternfly and an ecosystem and not everyone can be expected to know the nuances, but I think it makes sense to put out these sort of simplistic "kill the lantern fly" campaigns, because even if lantern flies are not the worst of the invasive species, the PSAs can get someone thinking about larger ecosystem connections. To try to care about the plants/bugs/birds they can't see as much as the ones they can.
Curious how you would apply this chain of reasoning to plants? Unclear to me how much work being alive Vs being sentient is doing in reasoning. How would you feel about someone gleefully pulling the petals off a flower, say?
And not sure what you meant with the sideswipe at consequentialists? I would have thought anybody who objects to torture of millions would also object to torture of the individual (I certainly would!)
It is counterintuitive to think merely being alive bestows moral value. Bacteria is alive and yet I sense no wrong or badness on my part in washing my hands. Perhaps sentience is what you're getting at.
that I'm not getting at sentience? explicitly, several times! And as for the bacteria, there are some implications in the piece that could help you work out my position -- eg that i think that considerations like 'does it pose me a physical threat?', 'is she harming it by accident?', etc, are relevant, but that nonetheless all living things are worthy of our concern, so my argument applies even to the bacteria that (if you know about it) minimally you should pause and consider
For me, all life forms are precious works of art billions of years in the making. We have to have some principals here. I always capture and release insects in my home. I do kill mosquitoes and wipe up the ants that scout an area and single a food source to the troops. Better than wiping up hundreds of them. I could never justify killing anything just because I can. All life “wants” to live. Get your magnifying glass out and checkout insects. It’s a whole new world.
Lolz of course.
haha
I do not ask the stomped latternfly how it feels, I myself become the stomped latternfly.
How does this extend to things like flies (hygiene risk) or bugs that bite? Presumably you'd make an exception for those and how would you argue for it?
Interesting essay, thanks!
thanks! I think that when a living thing threatens you, you can sometimes depend on self-defence to do harm to it
I think the invasive species argument could be seen in the same light as you see the killing of the lantern fly. I'm thinking specifically about plants / landscape restoration ecology. When I see a big patch of lily of the valley or garlic mustard or creeping bell flower, I get sad about all the plants they've snuffed out / are preventing from living, plants that are better for the ecosystem, that provide food for insects and birds. It brings me joy to rip out creeping bell flower because now the asters and goldenrods it's trying to take over can stick around longer and bloom. (It's also easy to pull! Lily of the valley is really difficult to pull so it brings me no joy, only hard work). It's sometimes hard to see the threads between a lanternfly and an ecosystem and not everyone can be expected to know the nuances, but I think it makes sense to put out these sort of simplistic "kill the lantern fly" campaigns, because even if lantern flies are not the worst of the invasive species, the PSAs can get someone thinking about larger ecosystem connections. To try to care about the plants/bugs/birds they can't see as much as the ones they can.
Curious how you would apply this chain of reasoning to plants? Unclear to me how much work being alive Vs being sentient is doing in reasoning. How would you feel about someone gleefully pulling the petals off a flower, say?
And not sure what you meant with the sideswipe at consequentialists? I would have thought anybody who objects to torture of millions would also object to torture of the individual (I certainly would!)
It is counterintuitive to think merely being alive bestows moral value. Bacteria is alive and yet I sense no wrong or badness on my part in washing my hands. Perhaps sentience is what you're getting at.
nope I address that
Where?
that I'm not getting at sentience? explicitly, several times! And as for the bacteria, there are some implications in the piece that could help you work out my position -- eg that i think that considerations like 'does it pose me a physical threat?', 'is she harming it by accident?', etc, are relevant, but that nonetheless all living things are worthy of our concern, so my argument applies even to the bacteria that (if you know about it) minimally you should pause and consider
Yes, upon rereading that's clear. Still seems strange to me.
A small squash for a moment’s delight. A giant annihilation of morality. It’s not that long a step from a bug to a human.