| Kantor said: Absolutely not. 1) As is our right as those on top of the food chain. Are lions immoral for eating deer? Animals don't really show independent thought or reason. They are not the same as people, and they are not entitled to the human rights of freedom and safety from harm. |
That's actually not true in atleast some cases... to be a huge downer... but in general when judging consiousness and independent thought, generally there is a thing known as the "mirror test".
Basically whether or not an animal can distinguish that it's reflection is actually itself and not something different. This requires at least some higher reasoning skills.
Generally they mark paint on an animals face... and if they see it and clean it after they look in the mirror, they are consious and capable of complicated thought. Generally it's thought a number of animals who can't do this test now, will be able to do so in the future when given a more accurate test.
As for what it means now? Avoid pork. Pigs are apparently really quite smart. They pass the test and are apparently smarter then young children.
