Full Idea
The painless killing of an animal of a species that does not make plans extending into the future may not be a harm: this depends on how we think about the harm of death.
Gist of Idea
It may be no harm to kill an animal which cannot plan for its future
Source
Martha Nussbaum (Creating Capabilities [2011], 8)
Book Reference
Nussbaum,Martha C.: 'Creating Capabilities' [Belknap Harvard 2013], p.162
A Reaction
Very old human beings may have no plans for the future. I, on the other hand, have got lots and lots of plans. Definitely. No one can specify the harm of death. How can it be distinguished from the harm of not being born?