<dh@.> wrote
> On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:08:01 -0700, "Dutch" > wrote:
>
>>"Rupert" > wrote in message
roups.com...
>>>
>>> I am good at assessing the strength of an
>>> argument.
>>
>>No you aren't, you don't even listen to my arguments, you repeat them back
>>to me in terms that reveal your bias, discarding the essence of my
>>aguments.
>
> Have you "explained" to him why you believe we should think of child
> prostitution and raising animals for food in the same way yet?

I don't have to, he probably understands the analogy. You're the only one I
know of that doesn't. Since you brought it up I will explain it again.

The analogy is intended to discover if in judging if an action is good/bad,
right/wrong if the recipient of that act "getting to exerience life" is ever
a relevant factor. Obviously the contexts that apply are those which produce
or help to produce animal life. One of those contexts is having children,
breeding of pets would be another, in this case it is the breeding of
livestock. The basic criticism requiring a response is that it is wrong to
kill these livestock animals for food. Can we use the argument that "they
only get to experience life because of us" to respond to that criticism?
It's tempting, but does it hold up or is it self-serving and circular? One
of the ways we can examine the response is to attempt to apply it in other
contexts. Lets say we are criticized for our treatment of our children, can
we answer, "they only get to experience life because of me" or is that an
evasion that fails to answer the accusation? What if we raise Yorkshire
Terriers we are criticized or charged for say, killing off pups that don't
meet show quality standards? Would it help our case to respond "they only
get to experience life because of me"? Clearly that response never answers
the accusation directly and should be avoided. The criticism must be
addressed head on, either by direct counter-argument or by denying it's
veracity. Introducing this extraneous "they only get to experience life
because of us" factor does nothing to answer it.