It seems to me that a great many problems that we humans have come from this type of moral 'arrogance?'. That is, assuming ourselves to be the most important moral agents on this planet and disregarding the preferences of any other beings. It's easy to ignore whichever being is right there in front of you, and conjure up a story about how you are doing a more important thing somewhere else. But actually, that specific being is the only agent you can reasonably have any hope of morally impacting at that moment in time.
E.g., this type of attitude lets you to do things like ignore your family because you are trying so hard to 'save the world'. Furthermore, the type of mental state that makes Jospeh reflect like this is inherently wholesome I would say. If we'd all continuously gave as much thought to ants as Joseph has done here, that would at least mean we'd all have much more compassionate states of mind as a baseline and the world would be in a much better place overall.
Personally, I do go out of my way to save insects. Sometimes when I want to shower there is a spider in the shower basin which would die if I turn on the water. I do tend to pick them up and set them outside. I'm a completely moral prick in other ways, but this type of behaviour and thinking comes from a state of mind that finds the wellbeing of other beings important, i.e., compassion, and I hope to become a more compassionate person.
It seems to me that a great many problems that we humans have come from this type of moral 'arrogance?'. That is, assuming ourselves to be the most important moral agents on this planet and disregarding the preferences of any other beings. It's easy to ignore whichever being is right there in front of you, and conjure up a story about how you are doing a more important thing somewhere else. But actually, that specific being is the only agent you can reasonably have any hope of morally impacting at that moment in time.
E.g., this type of attitude lets you to do things like ignore your family because you are trying so hard to 'save the world'. Furthermore, the type of mental state that makes Jospeh reflect like this is inherently wholesome I would say. If we'd all continuously gave as much thought to ants as Joseph has done here, that would at least mean we'd all have much more compassionate states of mind as a baseline and the world would be in a much better place overall.
Personally, I do go out of my way to save insects. Sometimes when I want to shower there is a spider in the shower basin which would die if I turn on the water. I do tend to pick them up and set them outside. I'm a completely moral prick in other ways, but this type of behaviour and thinking comes from a state of mind that finds the wellbeing of other beings important, i.e., compassion, and I hope to become a more compassionate person.