Discussing moral agents and moral patients is crucial to the discussion about the moral behavior of non humans. Moral agents are the ones who are on the giving and receiving end; they can dish up actions that count morally. They are in a sense the "powerful" ones. On the other hand, moral agents do not have power at all. They are on the receiving ends of things. Moral patients are infants because they act upon what they see. Infants do not know better; therefore, if they do something morally incorrect they cannot be punished for this. This made me wonder if animals can be punished for their actions too. I thought of this particularly when we were discussing children being on trial for murder.
Murder is a serious offense and people should have to deal with the consequences for their actions. However, what is the age that human beings know how wrong murder is. Should this be age be the same for everyone or should it be different for everyone? This becomes an issue when teenagers murder people and are charged as adults. Should they truly be charged as adults or as children? What should this moral behavior be based upon. Should it be based on their brain or psychological state of mind? Similarly, I wonder if dogs should be killed for their murderous actions.
Dogs, especially pit bulls, attack on another and are sometimes put to sleep because of it. Should this occur? Are they fully responsible for their moral behavior? Questions like these kept "popping" into my mind when discussing moral patients. Should the owners be punished more or equally to the dogs?
I am enjoying this discussion more on a daily basis and cannot wait to talk about it tomorrow.
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Pit bulls, along with their violent natures, are a human creation and, therefore, responsibility.
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