- Aug 21, 2015
- 9,485
- 89,283
- 2,590
- MBTI
- INFJ
- Enneagram
- 5w4
Yup. That sweet "guilty" expression is fear. It makes you second guess how you behave with animals, doesn't it?
Since I am not an animal and don't know whether or not animals have ethics and morals, I cannot say whether they can be criminals.
In the human sense of the concept, no they cannot. Humans rules do not apply. One could even say charging an animal with a human crime, which they don't understand as a crime, is unethical.
Animals do terrible things, yes, but that is in the name of survival. For example, killing off an opponent's offspring is normal for many types of animals. Stealing is acceptable, too. Killing prey is a survival skill. Killing mating opponents is normal. Killing threats is normal. Nipping, biting, kicking, pinning, etc, are ways to teach each other, give warnings, establish dominance, etc.
Domestic animals, as well as wild animals that have experiences with humans, understand that if they commit certain acts that are natural for them that humans will react in scary ways. They don't understand the crime, they understand that humans can be mean and cause pain or death under certain circumstances.
Charging animals with crime (such as all the stories in the OP video) makes people seem stupid and insane. People were messed up in general during the time period of the examples, though.
I disagree with Descartes that animals are automatons. One could say this idea is the root of rampant animal abuse. If animals are automatons, humans are not committing crimes when they abuse and kill them.
How is "humans hurting animals" a crime if "animals hurting animals" (or "animals hurting humans") is not? We have the ethics, morals, laws, and standards stating that abuse and killing are wrong. We understand how hurting and killing are not necessary for survival and wellness, and we understand better ways to teach and interact.
Last edited:
