Quote Originally Posted by Yukimura View Post
Reading this made me chuckle a bit as I don't feel that stealing food to survive is 'wrong' but after some introspection it struck me that what the maid was saying was that difference between humans and 'lower' life forms is that humans have the ability to choose to suffer and die for an abstract concept while animals never make the choice to suffer or die except for pragmatic reasons.
I feel that stealing food to survive is definitely wrong. It is something done out of necessity, but you are still taking something that belong to another. I ask myself if i would take such a course of action if face with such a situation, and the answer is yes. I would still however have to accept that my action is out of self-interest and will deprive someone else of whatever i am stealing.

It is arrogant to assume that an actions is justified just because it stem from desperation. In a situation where you're stealing from another person who is also starving and the choice is between your survival or theirs, can that also be seen as right? Is it only "right" if you're stealing from those who "won't miss" whatever you're taking? Is it right then to steal from those who have no relation to your situation, but is an acceptable target because they are successful?

Abstract ideals are precisely why human are above animal. Things like Ethics, Rationality and Compassion can all be considered abstract ideals. We have a greater capacity and potential for impact in this world. Whether that impact can be seen as negative or positive depends on the person actions and who you ask in regard to the impact of those actions.

Your capacity as a human being to understand abstract concepts is precisely what enable you to have a certain amount of understanding for animals and denounce these abstract concepts. If you were like an animal and think precisely on the basis of pragmatism then there is absolutely no reason to feel sympathy for any other species besides our own unless they somehow directly support our need for survival.