Given the choice between saving an animal and some random human, I'd save the animal.
What about insects? Plants? Fungi? Bacteria?
What is it about humans that makes them ethically inferior to animals?
I suppose I should say “life forms” to be more accurate. Don’t get me wrong. For one, I am not a vegetarian, although I have great respect for those who can do that, like my sister. I believe that in the natural order of things life must consume life in order to live. Whether it’s plants or animals, I don’t think it is immoral to consume other life. I do think that the way humans treat their meals prior to eating them is immoral, but that is another debate. Secondly, I don’t think it is immoral to say…kill bacteria or a virus that would otherwise kill you. Self-defense is not immoral and quite natural. I do not kill insects with the exception of mosquitoes on my children, since we have issues here with them caring potentially deadly diseases, and having the exterminator treat our home for termites. I did have a hard time with that one morally, but I also felt the need to protect the welfare of my family. It kind of haunts me though. I actually was researching natural predators to termites prior to calling the exterminator.
As to the second question, it really is more that I don’t consider humans to be superior life forms. They like to think they are, but very few life forms destroy the environment in which they need to survive. That’s just a generalization. Specifically, there is “W”, Cheney, Hitler, etc. as some of the finest examples of the species. What it boils down to is that each human is responsible for themselves and their offspring. Many of the predicaments that befall other life forms on this planet are caused by humans. At least the “unnatural” ones. This makes it much easier to care about the other life forms when faced with such a choice.
I would like to clarify another thing, as I was a bit too general in my original post. My issues with humans as a whole is with the “adults” and not their presumably as yet uncorrupted offspring. I have done many things with kids over the years. From being a Big Brother to helping out in the Special Olympics. Kids tend to flock to me at birthday parties and I play with them rather than trying to socialize with the adults, which is extremely uncomfortable and difficult to do. I am, of course, an Aspie. All that being said, I would most likely save a random child if faced with that decision. I’m not that heartless.
Then again, I have twice jumped into burning cars to pull random adult humans out, so maybe there is a natural instinct to do so. But had say a dog been in either vehicle, I would have gone for the dog first. Unless, of course, the human was blocking the way so getting them out was a prerequisite to saving the dog.
