Single Idea 4277

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 6. Animal Rights]

Full Idea

I instinctively recoil from stepping on a spider or a forget-me-knot in my path, but neither of these responses expresses the fellow-feeling that forbids me to step on a rabbit or a mouse.

Gist of Idea

I may avoid stepping on a spider or flower, but fellow-feeling makes me protect a rabbit

Source

Roger Scruton (Animal Rights and Wrongs [1996], p.41)

Book Reference

Scruton,Roger: 'Animal Rights and Wrongs' [Demos 1996], p.41


A Reaction

It is fellow-feeling that makes us prefer mammals to reptiles. It seems wrong to build a moral system purely on empathy, because psychopaths don't even empathise with nice human beings. Externalism in morality.