Eating self-aware creatures? Why isn't that near-cannibalism? [View All]

Frequently some thread will come up about humans eating non-humans. Those who aren't vegetarians usually mount some argument of the form "they're just animals", meaning that they have few or no rights that we superior beings are bound to respect. The most recent thread was about horses, iirc.

Self-awareness used to be the criterion for judging whether non-humans are sufficiently "like us" to merit treatment as near-humans. I say "used to be" because we humans are really shameless at moving the goal posts so we can continue to treat others as we would hate to be treated ourselves. Whether it's turning Iraqis fighting for their homes into "raghead terrorists" or ignoring the many important ways non-humans are like us, we --or at least some of us-- maintain our narrow self-interest in the face of all evidence.

Many people, including the late Robert Heinlein, with a strong affinity for cats take it for granted from a multitude of behaviors that cats are self-aware. (For me, the most obvious evidence is the change in the way cats react to their image in a mirror.)

Not long ago, some researchers cleverly demonstrated self-awareness in lab rats.

Temple Grandin reported the case of a (now deceased) parrot in a lab that could not merely talk, but had taught himself to *spell* at least one word ("enn uh tuh"), a facility he demonstrated for the first time in a fit of exasperation one day, shocking his psychologist trainer-companion.

Now it turns out a horse has self-demonstrated it. Molly, a pony and Katrina survivor who had to have part of one front leg amputated after being savaged by a pit bull, showed self-awareness in how she took care of herself prior to and after the amputation. And now that a prosthesis has been made for her, she regularly demonstrates self-awareness by coming to her caregiver and holding out her leg to have the prosthesis put on - or sometimes, taken off. An animal without awareness of herself as a unique person would not be able to make the connections Molly makes. Which is why self-awareness is considered the sine-qua-non of worthiness to be treated as a near-human.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/molly.asp