Quote:
Originally Posted by Pletho
Define ownership please..... Define it as you understand it and are using it in the above question.
I think the more interesting way to go about this is to go with what YOUR most obvious definition of "own" is, define it, then answer the questions. That would shed a big light on how we perceive ownership and it many different possible nuances.
Plus it keeps us from navel gazing
For instance:
Ownership = That which you hold exclusive rights to with the ability to control and or determine the various elements of its existence.
1. Yes, unless it's a cat.
2. Depending on what era/location you live in yes.
Personally, though, I dont think I would consider 2 being a possibility for me because of my Christian world view. If I was alive, christian, and rich in 200AD I think I would be conventionally seen as "owning" slaves. I would maybe buy them from the market and use them in my home for the various household work/management. But I would hope to think that I wouldn't use them in some of the more horrific ways seen in shows such as Roma or Spartacus manly because I have a respect for humans in a way that is much different from animals mainly because of our shared identity with God. I would hope that I would treat with dignity much in the way that St. Paul describes.
Today though, I could never own a person in that slave kind of sense mainly because Im a western middle-class person.
And I see two main differences in animals, one because of what I mentioned above and two because we've bread them in large part to accept our ownership of them.
I find it rare that a person can claim to own a wild animal unless it's caged up on their property. I guess with my definition they do own the animal by controlling where it can go and determining if it lives or dies. But then by that perspective, if I was a Jail Warden I would own the prisoners in my cells too.