On Apr 24, 7:26 am, dh@. wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:42:14 -0700 (PDT), Rupert <
rupertmccal...@yahoo.com>
Quite obviously I said no such thing.
> >> >I have never suggested otherwise.
>
> >> You sure have, and you have indicated otherwise by your own behavior, like
> >> being completely opposed to the raising of animals for food regardless of the
> >> quality of their lives TO THEM.
>
> >I have absolutely not ever said anything which would entail that I
> >have difficulty grasping when a life is good and when a life is not so
> >good. If you believe otherwise then that is evidence of
> >extraordinarily poor reading comprehension skills on your part.
>
> You TOLD ME specifically that you are clueless about it:
>
> "I don't believe the distinction between "lives of positive value" and
> "lives of negative value" means anything." - Rupert
>
That is not telling you that I am clueless. It is expressing my
(correct) opinion that you have not provided a satisfactory definition
of the concept. It is sad that you have so much trouble comprehending
English.
> >Also, you know that my opposition to animal agriculture is not
> >absolutist,
>
> I sure don't, and so far don't believe it. Which animals would you allow?
> I've asked you that before but you could never answer, meaning you almost
> certainly can't answer now either. But if you can, then let us know which
> animals you would allow, and why.
>
As you ought to know, I have in the past expressed the view that
possibly some forms of animal agriculture, grass-fed beef being one
possible example, might cause no more harm than existing forms of
plant-based agriculture, and that I did not have grounds on which to
criticise these forms of agriculture. Derek then emailed my friend
Angie and told me I shouldn't be on the committee of Animal Liberation
(which I wasn't). You ought to know this. It happened while you were
here, and also I have told you all this quite recently.
The distinction between "good" and "not so good" is not a precise one.
You know well enough what the phrases would mean and it would be
pointless to explain it to you. There are no precise criteria for when
the phrases apply.
There would be some cases when native English speakers would widely
agree that one of the phrases applies, and there are some cases where
there would no be no consensus about the matter.
. . .
>
> >Your suggestion that I was "trying to force a
> >comparison with nothing" was false, for reasons given in my remark.
>
> Present whatever it is you want me to think you're trying to refer to.
It would be nice if you asked me politely, instead of ordering me
around.
I was referring to my remark "Two different outcomes, two different
world-histories, in which
different sets of organisms exist, are being compared." This remark
explains that it is not a question of trying to force a comparison
with nothing.