Should we care about the life of an ant?

It's not insane like some people are saying. I just get a kick out of stepping on ants. It's amusing to watch them try to escape from being crushed so easily.

 

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obviously insects that live within our domain stand the chance of being crushed underfoot, I will actively try to not step on insects if I see them, that's me though, it probably stems from having lived through a house collapse that crushed me and it's a thought I don't relish for any creature.

 

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Wow nice personality you must have :bugeye:

 

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Can we please leave God out of this for once ? Try to think on your own for a while.

 

why should we when some people dont even care about the life of a child??

 

Well for starters it makes one wonder what sort of person would enjoy killing little defense animals. I don't think I would readily trust such a person with anything else.

You have a 'moral' obligation to life in general.

The obligation is to let nature runs it's course as much as possible. If you step on an ant by accident it's ok, you can't help that. You can pick up the food and calling an exterminator is ok too.
Just don't hurt or kill animals on purpose for no good reason.

It's interesting that you ask about where to draw the line. I can turn that around and ask you at what size animal it becomes immoral to just kill it for fun.

 

I think you will find that people that won't kill animals for fun also care about other people more than a person that kills little defenseless animals for fun.

 

Well that's me too. You can't help stepping on insects by accident.

 

And I can answer quite easily, human beings (my own species). I owe a moral obligation to them because I expect the same behavior from them and any one who breaks that social contract is immoral (not to mention criminal). If I'm attacked and killed by a lion because it perceives my actions as threatening when they are not intended to be I don't think anyone is going to say that lion was immoral.

I don't hunt but I can't say it's immoral if someone wants to kill an elephant. It may be illegal. It may (as I said) reflect poorly on the character of the person doing it. It may be a senseless waste of time. But I don't believe it's immoral.

 

Lions don't have any morality, humans do.
What if I start shooting deer in the forest until there were none left, what would you say about that ?
Or say, a large group of people decided that animals have no place on earth anymore. And decide to go kill them all off, all of them. Would you say that is immoral ?

Ecosystems are already under tremendous pressure because of pollution and human activity. I don't think the world needs people that think it's just dandy to go kill any animal you want for the kicks of it.
Maybe it's not viewed as immoral by the majority of people but I really think it should.

Let me ask you one more thing.
If you saw your kid crushing ants would you teach him not to do it ? And why not to do it ?

 

people kill ants and other life forms every day just by walking about! should we not go out? should we all invent hover boards?

 

Sigh.. people please read.
I said that it's wrong to hurt or kill animals on purpose without any good reason.

 

If you saw your kid crushing ants would you teach him not to do it ? And why not to do it ?

 

Agree with you there. Hence I don't owe any moral obligation to lions.

In the first case, I'd say you were stupid and possibly deranged but I wouldn't say your actions were inherently immoral if the person was not otherwise harming other people. In the 2nd, again I'd say the action is immoral only if it can be shown to negatively impact other human beings (which wouldn't be hard to demonstrate).

If it wasn't my kid I'd leave him alone. If it was my daughter I would try to find out why she was doing it (was she feeling ineffective, unable to control her life, etc?) and address the problem. In neither case would my concern be about the aunts.

Do you want to ask some more questions so I can continue to give you the same answer?

 

What type of ant? Name the species (colloquial names are just fine with me).

 

Fire ant?

 

Bad. If they sting me, you bet I'll act in self defense. Same thing goes for those damn carpenter ants -- nearly as bad as termites.

 

If they have a huge home that I can see in our lawn, they are dead. If they are in the driveway or sidewalk, I don't care.
Did you just get done watching A Bugs Life or Ant Bully?

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The ant is just an example What if it happened to be something larger than an ant, a furry animal perhaps?

 

I eat furry animals. I've butchered furry animals. I do care if they are tortured though.