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.
 
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.
 
Thrix said:
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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Wow nice personality you must have :bugeye:
 
Dunn11x said:
lol, yes in that we breath oxygen, give live birth, and are warm blooded, but I just don’t think it’s right to classify us as animals. God created humans in his image, not animals.
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Can we please leave God out of this for once ? Try to think on your own for a while.
 
maxg said:
Depends on what you mean by OK. It reflects poorly on the person doing so, since it's the sort of behavior I would expect from a 8 year old and it seems like a waste of time and energy, but I can't see anything immoral about it.
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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.

maxg said:
No, as someone else pointed out it would hurt me (if I did have a cat) and therefore you are acting immorally. You have a moral obligation to other people but not to ants.
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You have a 'moral' obligation to life in general.

maxg said:
If you believe we (as humans) have a moral obligation to ants, where does that obligation end? Is it immoral for me to pick up food off my floor because I am depriving ants of sustenance? Is it immoral to have an exterminator come to rid my house of carpenter ants (they're ants too, at least I think so)?
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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.
 
siledre said:
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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Well that's me too. You can't help stepping on insects by accident.
 
Enmos said:
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.
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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.
 
maxg said:
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.
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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 ?
 
Enmos said:
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 ?
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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.
 
Enmos said:
Lions don't have any morality, humans do.
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Agree with you there. Hence I don't owe any moral obligation to lions.


Enmos said:
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 ?
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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).

Enmos said:
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 ?
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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?
 
Enmos said:
If you saw your kid crushing ants would you teach him not to do it ? And why not to do it ?
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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? :confused:
 
Orleander said:
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? :confused:
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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?
 
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