What is the difference between murder and killing & how might this affect how we should treat animals?

Question

I've got my opinion about these definitions but am curious how others might define the difference between these to terms.

Answer 1

Murder is killing another human and killing is killing anything from an animal to a plant. It is not wrong to kill an animal for food because we are meant to eat meat as well as plants. Our teeth are made to eat meat. If it is wrong for us to kill other animals, is it wrong for a lion to kill its prey?

Answer 2

In law the act of murder is for a human to kill another human with the intention of doing so.

So going by that you can't murder an animal but it's still with intent.

Law and ethics do not always go hand in hand however. The fact that it was once illegal to be g*y is proof of this.

From an ethical standpoint I would say that the act of killing an animal is still murder. The difference is what is going through the mind of the killer. Just as when whites killed blacks and saw them as nothing more than animals, or when n**i's eradicated Jews seeing them as inferior. They don't see it as murder because they don't treat the victim as their equal.

In summary I believe killing with intent is murder whether or not the killer sees the victim as their equal. Therefore people that willingly purchase the flesh of the victim are therefore contracting the killer and are at the very least an accessory to murder.

Answer 3

I think you might have gotten better answers if you'd asked the two questions separately.

Anyway, the main difference in my view, is murder is a crime.  I don't see the two as mutually exclusive.  Some killings are called murder and some are not.  Some are only murder in some people's eyes.

I think the killing of animals certainly could be called murder, massacre, slaughter.  It's not done out of self defense, it's not done for survival, it's done just because people like the way it tastes.

Answer 4

There is a tremendous difference between murder and the slaughter of animals.  They should not be unduely abused but there is no comparison between the two terms.

Answer 5

The legal definition appears to be pretty much as follows: "Murder is the crime of intentionally causing another person's death without legal excuse or justification. Murder is a crime that falls under the category of criminal homicide. State and federal laws regarding homicide and murder are the most complex of any criminal laws. The classifications of homicidal and murder offenses are complex but are often divided into a handful of categories based on severity.

What constitutes murder has been the subject of controversy and debate for as long as criminal laws have been in place. There has been debate over what qualifies as "causing another person's death." Common law used the rule of "a year and a day" meaning that if a person's actions led to the death of another within a year and a day of the incident, the former could be charged with the murder of the latter.

Most states have jurisdiction over criminal cases involving murder. The federal system handles all murder cases involving the death of a federal official, when the murder occurs on federal property, and in other specific situations. Each state establishes and enforces their own laws regarding the definition and consequences of murder. The majority of states consider some acts of murder (those with aggravating factors) to be capital crimes, meaning that they are punishable by death. Others do not consider any form of murder a capital offense.

There are a few types of homicide, or murder, which are defined by law. First degree murder is the premeditated, deliberate, and/or malicious act of intentionally causing the death of another party. First degree murder is often referred to as "cold-blooded" murder because it is calculated and committed willfully with the intention to kill or do serious harm. Murder in the second degree is the crime of murdering in "the heat of passion" which can involve situations where a person acts during a period of intense fear, rage, anger, terror, or fear. This type of murder is often considered voluntary manslaughter. This type of murder can also occur when death results in the perpetration of another criminal act.

Third degree murder is often referred to as involuntary manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter is murder that was not intended specifically by the defendant. Criminal negligence is often the precursor to involuntary manslaughter. Reckless use of a motor vehicle, firearms, explosives, animals, medicine, and the like that results in the death of a person falls under this category of murder. Some states also consider it murder to cause or aid another's suicide, or to supply drugs which result in death.

The laws regarding murder are complex and often unique to the jurisdiction where the crime took place. In order to convict a defendant of murder, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the acts in question (actus reus) under a specific mental state (mens rea). Individuals who have been charged with murder should speak with a professional defense attorney about their legal rights and options. There are strong defenses that can be built for the defendant in a murder case."

I think that these laws apply to humans and the wrongful death of another human. However, searching for laws governing the mistreatment of animals I found the following:

"There’s no law that requires pet owners to have common sense, but there can be laws prohibiting cruelty to dogs and other domestic animals. Sample legislation requires owners to keep animal enclosures clean and sanitary; protection from the elements must be provided, as should food and water on a daily basis as well as bedding. The size of the enclosure can be determined based on the number of dogs. Responsibilities of dog owners with invisible fencing are spelled out. There also are regulations on leaving animals in vehicles, including the authority of law enforcement to remove animals at risk of suffering. The responsibilities of persons who accidentally strike a dog or cat with their car are also set forth. Law enforcement has the authority to seize and impound animals for humane reasons and veterinary care, and the municipality has the right to refuse to return tortured animals to their owners. Pet owners may be negligent, ignorant or careless in treatment of their pets, but there are ways to protect the animals." (?)



All that being the case (and there is a whole lot more of such conversation on the web) it seems to me that the law too narrowly defines which animals are deserving of protection under the law. Clearly if it is unlawful to confine, torture, murder and maim a domestic animal (which they appear to define as a cat or a dog) under the law then? What of the other domesticated animals? If one lawsuit taken to the Supreme Court  could stop prayer in the schools, then?

Finding a court sympathetic to the issues however, might be a challenge but it also may be the only possible route to a successful challenge to factory farming practices and other hideous agribusiness abuses.   Seriously ,even in the evil days of slavery, there were murders of 'property'  that went unchallenged -- "An Abolitionist Example Abolitionist Rep. Thaddeus Stevens once gave an example of the above concept. He cited the story of someone who was disagreeing. Later that same individual mentioned a recent murder, “Did you hear of that atrocious murder committed in our town? A [criminal] deliberately murdered [someone] .”

The respondent said, “I think you are mistaken.”

“How so? I saw it myself.”

“You are wrong, no murder was or could be committed, for the law forbids it!!”

Point made!—Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, Congressional Globe, 39th Cong, 1st Sess, 18 Dec 1865, pp 72-75. (Full Text) Likewise, re slavery! Just because something (e.g., kidnaping, rape, slavery, murder, secession) is illegal, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Key (1853), p 92, had made the same point."

It took almost a hundred years to begin to approximate some conscience and consciousness in the allegedly human heart of Americans against the ill-treatment of other (African American) humans following 1865. The civil rights activists of the Mid-Twentieth Century over integration in our schools is a perfect case in point -- look at the incredible violence that happened in those recent days.   And even today; recognition that it is unlawful to confine, torture, murder and maim other humans --  is still in question among our politicians and much of the country that supports them. Look at Abu Grahib and the issue of Water Boarding. Bush, Cheney, Rice, and McCain think that is all OK and that it is OK to break our treaties to the contrary. And we sit and watch this Administration safe in our intellectual cocoons debate the issue of torture of humans all over again and now extend it to the animals while the first battle has not yet been won. All of which is to say I hold little hope for humans to shift their thinking about animals to include them as equals in my lifetime, especially when they eat them with impunity, make their livelihood supporting those abuses; and when they so easily agree to illegal abuses of human rights with justifications that smack of situation ethics at its worst. Frankly, it sickens me.

Answer 6

there difference between murder and killing is the intent.

you can accidentally kill something, and it wouldnt be considered murder.

Answer 7

Murder is the illegal and intentional killing of a human being by another human being.  Anything else is just killing, it can be cruel or humane.

Answer 8

murder-you kill an animal for fun/sport

killing- you kill to eat

you kill it you eat it thats my philosophy

Answer 9

Murder is a term associated with human on human killing only. It is not a valid term in association with other animals. It is not accepted phrasing to say a lion murders a wildebeest, an otter murders a clam, or a human murders a pig or a mosquito.

Answer 10

Murder is a legal definition. A person is murdered a fly is killed.

Answer 11

Murder is usually just humans, but also is cruely and/or preplanned normally. Killing can be an accident. Most of the times we murder animals for food. We do it in a way that causes them alot of pain, when we could easily do it where it doesnt hurt them as much.