Reading Reflection #1

 

In The Green Kant by Holly Wilson, she explains Immanuel Kant’s perspective on the relationship between humans and animals, and introduces a third category, “things”. Kant believes that it is important to make a distinction between humans and animals, because it pushes humans to practice better morality. If humans view animals as a different group from themselves, there is a bigger moral responsibility to treat them with respect, since they acknowledge the power that humans hold over animals. Wilson writes that Kant thinks “Taking care of animals and not being cruel to them is good for us” (69). Furthermore, Kant thinks that since humans have more freedom and autonomy, they should use it to treat animals kindly. 

This is a concept that I have considered before, but not to this degree. I often think about how, at one point, humans were as “advanced” as any other animal, but then a breakthrough happened, leading us to have things that are distinctly “human”, such as office buildings, television, drugs, etc. I am not a vegetarian, and whenever I think about this, I justify it by thinking about how animals hunt other animals, and that is no different than me eating meat. While this is true to an extent, it’s important to know that humans have what has become an unfair advantage over animals. With tools, weapons, and mass production methods, it is very different for humans to hunt animals than for animals to hunt each other. After reading this, I think that since humans are obviously going to keep hunting animals, people should shift from discouraging others from eating meat to encouraging more humane practices of preparing animals as food. If humans are privileged enough to have morals, they should use them graciously. 

I think that most people who eat meat treat animals with the respect they deserve, but there is a disconnect between animals that they consider food and pets. I think the best way to approach this would be to educate more people about the meat industry and create a more vocal discourse about it to decrease the amount of meat that is bought from inhumane sources. I think education in general is the most powerful tool for combating most environmental issues.