Cat Meat Philosophy

When I say cat meat philosophy, I mean the philosophical arguments that makes the market in cat meat unethical and fundamentally wrong. One reason why some people find the concept of cat meat acceptable is grounded in Christianity and the Bible. 

The Bible is really a book that is full of "holes", meaning erroneous statements. It was written hundreds of years after the events. In Genesis, it is declared that God gave humans dominion over animals. This is a poor starting point in the proper treatment of our fellow creatures. It fosters arrogance towards animals and cats (my area of interest). We are only just emerging from the shackles of the unenlightened culture fostered by religion. Christianity is fading in the West. Churches are gradually becoming empty and being converted to apartments. 

I believe that in 5,000 years' time the world will look back at religion as an anomaly in mankind's evolution. It is not a helpful concept in the long term. Religion does though make life more bearable but only in a crude psychological way. Religious fundamentalism is a pathetic and ignorant throwback to times past and is highly unhelpful generally although it may make life better for those who practice it because it artificially simplifies life. Then we have the concept of sentience. Are other animals (meaning animals other than humans) sentient? 

Jeremy Bentham a well-known English philosopher argued that the ability of an animal to suffer must be the measure by which we treat other animals. It is not a question as to how intelligent other animals are. In any case "intelligence" is a wide term. Cats are more "intelligent" in some areas than humans. 

In addition, and for example, other animals such as apes have been found to have better memories than undergraduates. We are only recently beginning to realise that other animals have real qualities the equal of ours. We are coming out of the fog of the arrogant belief that we are superior and have "dominion" over animals. Clearly it cannot be argued that cats cannot suffer as they are similar to humans anatomically. That is why humans use cats in animal testing. Cats have brains and nerves. They obviously feel pain. 

They are not vegetables as some Chinese think. We can converse more easily with a cat than with a small baby. As for the apes it really is possible to converse with them. How can animals generally not be sentient. Lastly, we have a kind of social contract with cats. OK it is not the social contract that exists between humans. By social contract I mean the underlying agreement between humans under which we interact in a socially acceptable manner. 

 I have said it before but we have a special relationship with cats and dogs; we live with them. This is unusual for humans. We get on better with cats and dogs than with other humans sometimes. We agreed to live with cats as companions. OK not all humans agreed that but it has become accepted by all of us over the 9,000 years of domestication. 

We renege on that contract if we brutally kill cats and eat them.