> If you have much experience with cows and chickens, I think the difference in capacity for suffering is pretty clear.
I’m not saying there is no difference - they are different species so we wouldn’t expect them to have an identical experience of pain and deprivation - but rather that the difference is not easily quantifiable. We are not able to access the interior lives of these animals. And in practice, I suspect many people would be as reluctant to rip the wing off a live chicken as the ear from a cow, while showing few misgivings about squashing an ant. That is to say, in practice most people are likely to behave as if the moral stances toward cows and chickens are roughly equivalent.
In terms of being forced into decisions to value one human life over another, that doesn’t change the fact that morally and ethically we value human lives equally. We don’t extrapolate from emergencies to posit that one mom = three children. In any case, what bearing does this have on the problem at hand? If one cow’s life is morally equivalent to a non-singular number of chickens, how many chickens are we choosing, and why?
>In terms of being forced into decisions to value one human life over another, that doesn’t change the fact that morally and ethically we value human lives equally.
Doesn't it? There are stated valuations and then revealed valuations on life. When asking what people really think and feel, I think it is relevant to look at how they act when their behavior is contingent. Anyone can make arbitrary claims when they are not tested. Anyways, I agree that this all a tangent from the main point.
>That is to say, in practice most people are likely to behave as if the moral stances toward cows and chickens are roughly equivalent.
This is where I think we disagree. I think most people would have a pretty difference emotional and psychological experience killing a cow or chicken. This ties back to the concept of claimed belief vs revealed beliefs.
I’m not saying there is no difference - they are different species so we wouldn’t expect them to have an identical experience of pain and deprivation - but rather that the difference is not easily quantifiable. We are not able to access the interior lives of these animals. And in practice, I suspect many people would be as reluctant to rip the wing off a live chicken as the ear from a cow, while showing few misgivings about squashing an ant. That is to say, in practice most people are likely to behave as if the moral stances toward cows and chickens are roughly equivalent.
In terms of being forced into decisions to value one human life over another, that doesn’t change the fact that morally and ethically we value human lives equally. We don’t extrapolate from emergencies to posit that one mom = three children. In any case, what bearing does this have on the problem at hand? If one cow’s life is morally equivalent to a non-singular number of chickens, how many chickens are we choosing, and why?