Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat

This finding would have been predicted by Jonathan Haidt, one of the leaders of a new school of moral psychology that emphasizes the primacy of heart over head in ethics. Haidt believes that human cognition involves two distinct processes. The first is intuitive, instantaneous, unconscious, effortless, and emotional. The second process, in contrast, is deliberative, conscious, logical, and slow. Usually, it kicks in only after we have made our quick intuitive decision and cleans up the cognitive mess by coming up with justifications for our emotion-based decisions

Haidt’s theory of morality was nicely captured by Lucy, a special educator and animal rights activist I interviewed. When I asked her about the importance of logic and emotion in her path to animal activism, Lucy said, “It always stems from the emotional. But a lot of times I have to find an intellectual rationalization for my emotional reactions. Otherwise, I can’t sway people or defend my position.”

Imagine a grid with four quadrants. The emotional dimension is represented by a vertical line with love/affection on the top and loathing/fear on the bottom. It is bisected with a horizontal line representing the utility dimension—the left side is “not useful/detrimental to our interests,” and the right side is “useful.” The grid now forms a four-cell category system that helps us think about the roles of animals in our lives and the categories we put them in: loved and useful (upper right); loved and not-useful (upper left), loathed and useful (lower right), loathed and detrimental (lower left).

This four-category system even applies to cultural differences in attitudes about man’s best friend, the dog. Guide dogs for the blind and pet therapy dogs clearly fit into the “loved and useful” category. The typical American pet dog, on the other hand, is loved but is not particularly useful in the traditional sense. In Saudi Arabia, dogs are generally despised; they exemplify the “loathed and detrimental” category. Perhaps the most interesting category consists of animals are both loathed and useful. For example, dogs living with the Bambuti people of the Ituri Forest are derided, beaten, kicked around mercilessly, and left to scrounge for offal. However, the same dogs are considered valuable assets, as the Bambuti would be unable to hunt without them.