Conversation

@freemo

1. "sentient" means "feeling", this would include mammals, which feel like us, and even plants, which undergo hormonal responses analogous to mammalian emotions.

2. "intelligent" means "choosing between". This is presumably what is meant by "will". Intelligence (free will) is incompatible with a materialist universe - where every event stems from a chain of causation.

3. "suffering" - this is the primary means of human and animal learning. Parents, government, dog trainers, all inflict measured suffering ("chastisement") to attempt to curb destructive behaviours.

4. This is a nice objective criterion - but not exactly a moral argument. It does imply a moral argument from authority. In Genesis 1, God puts mankind in authority over the rest of creation. Even while tending your garden, you end some plant life to enhance other plant life. In Genesis 9, this authority is extended to include ending an animal's life for food, and ending a human life for murder ("whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed").