lol ok so when you say an argument is unsound, it means either my premises arent true or my progression from premise to conclusion is incorrect. given that my logic is fine, it has to be that you dont think my premises are true. i was talking about the process of killing bugs intentionally in the same way that this persons killing dogs intentionally. the fact that dogs are socially useful for us in terms of hunting or that they bring entertainment to some people isnt reason so as to why they should be treated humanely. we can still treat them like crap and they will still be useful to us because theyre stupid and animals and have no ability to reason. the fact that they have no real ability to reason is why i think they are so far inferior to us as to justify the torture and killing of them. my argument is as follows:
Premise 1: All people are created equally.
Premise 2: An individual should treat equals with respect, dignity and entitle them to life, liberty, property, and safety of self.
Premise 3: Given that people are equal to other people, they deserve to be treated with respect, dignity, and are entitled to life, liberty, property, and safety of self.
Premise 4: Dogs are subordinate and inferior to men as they posses a significantly diminished ability to reason.
Premise 5: As a result, dogs are not equal to men.
Conclusion 1: Therefore, dogs do not deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and are not entitled to life, liberty property, or safety of self. [by Premise 2 and 5]
THAT is an argument. So how about you hippie dog lovers stop talking about how 'sorry' you feel for me and how big of a moron I am, and start trying to put an argument together. thats all i ask. Notice how the fact that dogs are mans best friend is not a rational justification for why they have rights. nor is the fact that theyre useful when hunting. The fact that you think I am cold or 'messed up' is not sufficient to show that dogs should be treated with respect. In fact, its called the Ad Hominem fallacy and makes your argument illogical: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem .
but i forgot, im a moron and dont know what unsound means...ironic much haha
Your first premise is actually very incorrect. Humanity is not all created equally. Genetically, we are all different and these differences lead to some of us being faster, stronger, more talented, smarter, better looking, etc. Some are even born with lacking faculties. You see, your first premise is nurture driven and not nature driven. Our society hammers into us that all people are created equal to justify equality. However, if you did not accept this, the rest of your premises could be used to justify slavery and the slaughtering of those deemed "uncivilized." You see, your argument that we should only, treat well the organisms that we deem to have "equal" reasoning skills to our own is subjective. Again, not every human has the same capacity to learn and reason. Furthermore, you draw conclusions on another organism's abilities based upon human standards. Do you see how flawed that is and how someone can counter that?
My understanding of cultural humanity is that we set up hierarchical standards for everything, life included. The reason why I emphasize culture is that hierarchical standards are not universal among us. We are not born to see each other as equals, but are raised to see each other as equals. Evidence of this is presented throughout time. If you look at recent history, you see cases of culturally accepted inequality ie. Nazism, slavery, civil rights, genocide, etc. People are still killing each other in parts of the world based on their ethnicity, clan, religion, etc. In certain parts of the world, it is actually believed that if you kill and ingest a person who is albino, that you would be blessed with powers. You and I may see this as being sick; their government may even deem this as sadistic. However, their cultural views are different from our own because of nurture.
Now lets look at animals. For many of us, the impulse for sadistic behavior is nurtured out of us. The acts of aggression, torturing, and senseless killing of animals are driven away from our thoughts because we live in a society that deem these acts to be horrifically uncivilized. Our culture established a hierarchical standard of life, humans on top and animals below us. But, animals are all not equal; we place emphases on animals based on their connection to us. In our nation, dogs are regarded highly because of our domestication of them to be part of the family. Dogs have been with us for thousands of years; they have protected us, loved us, and even share many of our behaviors and illnesses.
I was raised to believe that making an animal suffer is cruel; you may not, and I respect that. I was also raised in the US, where most of us are raised to think that the senseless killing of a dog as being cruel; obviously, she and you were not.