Quote:
Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA
I don't believe, though, that the awareness of death leads to the awareness of life, Zaqarbal. I see much evidence that animals, like human children, can be very aware of their own life and experiences without awareness that death awaits them. They can express fear and have a sense of danger without knowing about death.
When I was a child, for example, I first began to realize when I was 13 years old that I, and everyone I knew, would die, truly die, eventually. Yet before I was 13, I experienced life just as vividly and was full of emotions and thoughts. Knowledge of death just led to greater fears and nostalgia, a sense of impending doom, and the knowledge that loss was a definite in my future.
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OK, but I meant
life in a broader sense (not just "being alive"). And in an
intergenerational way. A famous Latin aphorism says:
Ars longa, vita brevis ("
Art is long, life is short"). Here
Art is understood as
technique or
craft, but, by extension, we may also say
Science,
Culture or
knowledge in general. The same idea in other words: "
That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Our present ideas are the result from
accumulated knowledge, transmited throughout human history. Imagine we had a time machine so we could "transport" one of the first homo sapiens to our days. He could study Philosophy or Computer Science at a University, just like any of us. But at his time....
All the above is a consequence of the
awareness of Death. We humans know that we are going to die sooner or later. Therefore we act accordingly, bearing our descendants in mind, trying to record our thoughts and creations in order to make them last, etc. And because of that characteristic, today we know, for instance, how Human ideas regarding animals were in the past, thanks to art, literature, etc.
Medical and veterinary sciences advance gradually from a previous step of knowledge. And the same could be said about the Arts. Dead musicians are "alive" in this forum. If it weren't for the consciousness of the own death, nobody would try to leave a legacy for the future generations. So hundreds of millions of Human experiencies and thoughts would be lost forever, like tears in rain.
.........
ars longa.................................................. ......
vita brevis
I mean, the analogy
animals-replicants is very relevant, enlightening and beautiful, but it's
not 100% exact. Anyway, I really like it, and I'm sure that everybody will draw interesting conclusions from it. By the way, movie takes place in Los Angeles, but in Philip K. Dick's novel the city in question is San Francisco. That is,
Saint Francis. Interesting, isn't it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA
I mention this just in case someone is going to make the bogus claim that "animals don't know they are going to die; therefore, they aren't aware that they are alive; therefore, we can do with them what we will."
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I know what you mean. But, as regards me, you don't have to worry.
As an admirer of John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, I always bear in mind the basic principle. That is: as a general rule, when discussing treatment of animals, the number-one criterion is "
can they suffer?" The question is not,
Do sheep dream of androids? but,
Do sheep have nightmares about humans?
Anyways, a few months ago I realized that this issue is more complex than I thought before. And I have to read certain books on the matter. So I daren't talk about it in detail until I have a well-supported opinion.