Shannon Dickerson
How should we treat non-human animals?
January 30 – February 7
This week's guest philosopher is Shannon Dickerson. Shannon is 10 years old. She is in Mrs. Cross's 5 th grade class at Mountainview Elementary School in Morgantown , WV . Shannon is a little shy, at first. She is a very thoughtful and caring girl who wonders about big questions. Shannon is very active and athletic. She enjoys swimming, cycling, rollerblading, ice skating, downhill skiing, x-c skiing, and riding her scooter. When she is not playing sports and games, she enjoys watching movies and spying on her teenage sister with some of her friends. (Shhhhhhhhhhhh, lets hope her big sister does not read this!) Shannon has her own spy kit, which has binoculars, a recorder that can reach all the way across the street, and a wrist computer that allows her to text message her other spy friends. Shannon and her family recently went on a trip to Washington , DC . Shannon's favorite part of the trip was going to the Spy Museum .
Alright, on to the question! Shannon chose “How should we treat non-human animals?” I think she chose this question because she obviously loves animals. She has two cats, Buster and Sage. Buster is a tough cat who, according to Shannon, “rules South Park .” Sage and Shannon share the same birthday. Shannon also has two bunnies named Elron and Panda. Elron and Panda have family chores. While the family lawn mower is gathering dust and saving the ozone layer, Elron and Panda chomp on the grass and keep the lawn well manicured. ( Shannon 's Dad was hanging out with us as we chatted about THE QUESTION, and he admitted that he cannot even remember the last time he had to mow the grass.)
After chatting with Shannon for a while about her pets, I could tell that she takes extremely good care of them. She is a tenderhearted person, and her pets are lucky to have her as a caretaker. “How should we treat animals?” I asked. “We should be nice to them” Shannon replied. I asked her whether her neighbor's should be nice to her pets. She insisted that they should be nice, and that they are nice, because they all love cats and bunnies. “But what if they didn't,” I asked. “Should they be nice to them even if they don't like animals?” Shannon said, “They should be nice to my pets because I love my pets and hurting them would hurt me.” “Good answer, but what if the animal was a stray, and hurting the animal would not hurt the owner of the animal?” I asked. Shannon still thought it would be very wrong to hurt the animal. She told me of her own experience of taking care of a stray cat. I pressed Shannon about what makes it wrong to hurt a stray animal. She articulated a principle to defend her view. She maintained that it is wrong to hurt any living thing. I asked her about the common practices of hunting and eating meat. She paused; she pondered, and twisted her lip. I asked her if there was any moral difference between hunting and eating meat bought in a grocery store. “There's no difference,” maintained Shannon . “So, if it is wrong to hunt is also wrong to eat meat from the grocery store?” I asked. “Yes,” she replied. And if it is ok to eat meat it is ok to hunt?” “That's right,” replied Shannon . So, I asked, “Is it wrong to eat animals?” She paused, and paused, and paused. Finally, Shannon said, “I don't know.” “So, a common practice that we all take for granted is worth thinking about?” Shannon looked me dead in the eye, bit her lip, and said, “That's right. This is a really hard question and I do not have an answer right now. I will have to think about this some more.”
Shannon impresses me. She is so thoughtful and so honest. Her willingness to say, “I don't know” is a virtue that very few people have. Of course, I do not want to discourage people from trying out their answers in “THE QUESTION.” In fact, Shannon herself skillfully and logically defended quite a few answers in our discussion. However, she had the courage to say “I don't know” when she wanted more time to think about this very difficult question. I hope you will keep thinking too. I also hope you will join the WVU Philosophy Department in our public forum on the questions. We will announce the time, date, and location of the forum very soon.
If you would like to weigh in on this week's question, you can email the Philosophy Department at Kenneth.Enoch@mail.wvu.edu . |
