Is it wrong to eat Oysters?

Sydney · #1 05-03-2002, 11:10 PM

Oysters are under the animalia kingdom, but I don't know anything about their nervous system.

Anyone care to explain?

VykerSawBones · #2 05-03-2002, 11:31 PM

ok ill tell you something as sson as i find my enciclopidea

Steve · #3 05-03-2002, 11:38 PM

I looked it up in what few reference books I had, none of them said anything of brains but you probably should find conclusive evidence.

Scabcakes · #4 05-04-2002, 03:22 AM

Hello, I'm a newcomer here so I don't know if you would care about what I have to say. However, oysters are simple animals biologically speaking. They don't have an actual brain, but they can feel pain, as they do have a nervous system. While it probably doesn't feel good to be cooked alive, their is nothing morally worse about eating oysters over any other animal, but I personally hate their taste. Blech, just give me a hotdog, no one even knows what that stuff is made out of

.

Sydney · #5 05-04-2002, 03:25 AM

Welcome to the forums, Scabcakes.

Would oysters actually feel pain, though? Or is it just a simple response to stimuli, comparable to how a venus fly trap entombs an insect?

Surfacing · #6 05-04-2002, 04:12 AM

:

Originally posted by Sydney
Welcome to the forums, Scabcakes.

Would oysters actually feel pain, though? Or is it just a simple response to stimuli, comparable to how a venus fly trap entombs an insect?

Why do you care so much Sid? Are'nt you a vegeterian?

Rex Tirano · #7 05-04-2002, 10:17 AM

I'm vedgie so don't say bad stuff about being one...lol....scabcakes (was it a a spellin mistake or somat?)

Danny · #8 05-04-2002, 12:19 PM

I regard the Oyster Eater as the Victim, rather than the Criminal...

Of course it's pain. Venus Fly Traps have no nerves; that's the difference between simple response to stimuli and actual feeling...

Sydney · #9 05-04-2002, 12:43 PM

Danny, have you read Peter Singer's book, Animal Liberation?

:

"With creatures like oysters, doubts about a capacity for pain are considerable; and in the first edition of this book I suggested that somewhere between a shrimp and an oyster seems as good a place to draw a line as any. But while one cannot with any confidence say that these creatures do feel pain, so one can equally have little confidence in saying that they do not feel pain. Since it is so easy to avoid eating them, I now think it better to do so." (Singer, 1975: 174)

Danny · #10 05-04-2002, 12:47 PM

I can't say I've read the book, but the way I see it, if it has Pain Receptors, it can feel Pain...

Sydney · #11 05-04-2002, 12:56 PM

Pain receptors is such a strong term. It isn't known if the extent to which an Oyster uses its nerves reach pain, or if they're simply for muscle retractions. If oysters don't have brains, how can their nervous system process anything close to what can be called pain?

Danny · #12 05-04-2002, 01:04 PM

I don't know, I'm not a Biologist. I'm not going to eat Oysters (or any other kind of animal), whatever the verdict...

EDIT: Anyway, haven't you read Leviticus? Eating Oysters is strictly forbidden! Next you'll be saying blasphemous things like "Homosexuality isn't evil" or something like that...

Sydney · #13 05-04-2002, 01:08 PM

:

Originally posted by Danny
I don't know, I'm not a Biologist.

Oh, I must have had the wrong idea.

:

I'm not going to eat Oysters (or any other kind of animal), whatever the verdict...

I'm with you, as Singer says, it's easy to avoid eating them. Or at least when the craving for smoked oysters subsides...

Statikk HDM · #14 05-04-2002, 11:34 PM

I feel so guitly talking about the morality of eating oysters as I frequent a chinese restaurant and gorge myself on them, sometimes scarfing pounds at a crack. i will say this though, they taste ****ing awesome!

Lampion · #15 05-05-2002, 07:29 AM

The oyster

:

The structure of the mantle consists of a sheet of connective tissue containing muscles, blood vessels, nerves and it is covered on both sides by epithelium. The mantle receives sensory stimuli, and conveys them to the nervous system and aid in the shedding and dispersal of eggs. [...]The nerve provides communication. Close nerve contact is maintained between the muscles and the organs of the mantle through a fine nerve network.

From what I read, it seems that the oyster doesn't have any central nerve system which could be used to store experiences, memories or process nerve stimuli, but I can't draw a line to say if it "feels" pain or not. What is "pain", actually? Isn't it a human concept?(not rethorical question).

BTW, I enjoy eating oysters, fresh ones with some drops of lemon juice. Sometimes you can even see it reacting to the juice, before you detach it from it's shell and swallow it...

pinkgoth2 · #16 05-05-2002, 09:50 AM

:

Originally posted by Lampion
What is "pain", actually? Isn't it a human concept?(not rethorical question).

That's why I was thinking, along with "fear" (possible other things too, but it's the only thing springing to mind here).

- TyA

Gluk Schmuck · #17 05-05-2002, 10:45 AM

:

Originally posted by Lampion
What is "pain", actually?

I was wondering that when I was reading through this topic.

Sydney · #18 05-05-2002, 10:51 AM

:

Originally posted by Lampion
What is "pain", actually? Isn't it a human concept?

No, it's a word humans use to name the unpleasant sensations associated with tissue damage. Thanks for the info on the oyster, by the way.

paramiteabe · #19 05-05-2002, 12:35 PM

I don't know because I never eat oysters yuck! I don't like oysters! I like sea food but I just can't stand oysters!

One, Two, Middlesboogie · #20 05-05-2002, 05:16 PM

Moral issues are not on my mind when I consider eating oysters. I try not to eat anything that looks as though it's fallen out of a hippopotamus's nose.

Sal the Mudokon · #21 05-05-2002, 08:20 PM

I enjoy oysters. I don't have any evidence to back that up because it's merely a matter of opinion. The first time I had them, I thought I was going to see it again all over the floor. But after a few times (i have demanding parents when it comes to food), I started to REALLY like them. I like them best with horse radish, lemon drop, and on a cracker. The HOOTERS oysters are the best!
...though the oysters arent the only reason I go there...

morphius · #22 05-05-2002, 11:50 PM

Why is it wrong to eat oysters, since when is it wrong to eat any animal(living creature). It can only be considered wrong by how that piece of meat was obtained (Through large amounts of processing and animal cruelty.)note:Animals do eat each other......

Sydney · #23 05-06-2002, 05:15 AM

Morphius, some of us here believe that it is morally wrong to sacrifice other beings for pleasure. Obviously your morals differ, but that's the way it is.

LuxoJr · #24 05-06-2002, 07:33 AM

Out of interest Sydney, are you a vegan or vegetarian?

I was amazed to find out how many products contain animal products, rather than merely produce. Cheese has cow stomach lining, I believe, and hot dogs are actually made from meat. Really.

Gluk Schmuck · #25 05-06-2002, 11:04 AM

:

Originally posted by LuxoJr
Cheese has cow stomach lining, I believe, and hot dogs are actually made from meat. Really.

Not vegetarian cheese or vegetarian hot dogs. They contain vegetarian substitues.

pinkgoth2 · #26 05-06-2002, 02:45 PM

:

Originally posted by morphius
Why is it wrong to eat oysters, since when is it wrong to eat any animal(living creature). It can only be considered wrong by how that piece of meat was obtained (Through large amounts of processing and animal cruelty.)note:Animals do eat each other......

Um, yea. I don't see how people here call eating pleasure... if I wouldn't eat, I'd die. *whithers* And since I have a sense of self-preservation, I will eat. I'm actually more carnivorous (I love meat), if such a term can be slapped upon a human being.

"Don't kill a non-human animal unless it attacks you or for food" is a rule I live after. It's a pretty natural rule. Can't see a random animal running around biting other animals' throats for the fun of it.

The only thing that bothers me is, like morphius said, the way it is obtained. I've heard really cruel stories about animals being held - but I don't see a reason to cut down on my like of meat because of that. There's only a very thin thread connecting the two, and I won't condemn anyone who eats meat as a promoter of animal cruelty or something like that, because that's just wrong in my opinion.

- TyA

Fazerina · #27 05-06-2002, 04:03 PM

:

Originally posted by pinkgoth2
Um, yea. I don't see how people here call eating pleasure... if I wouldn't eat, I'd die. *whithers* And since I have a sense of self-preservation, I will eat.

Yes, you would die if you didn't eat, but you don't have to eat meat.

I liked meat before as well, but you grow out of it so quickly! Now I'm disgussed even by the smell of it and I've only been vegetarian for three months...

Gluk Schmuck · #28 05-06-2002, 08:11 PM

:

Originally posted by pinkgoth2
1. I don't see how people here call eating pleasure...
2. if I wouldn't eat, I'd die.

1. Do you have a sense of smell?

2. That's precicely why it's pleasurable to eat (certain foods). If you enjoy eating food then you will eat and, hence, survive and your genes will be passed on to the next generation.

Lampion · #29 05-07-2002, 01:47 AM

Sydney, why exactly do you want to know more about Oyster's nervous system? I suppose it is to find out if they feel pain or not, and therefore know if it is wrong or right to eat them. But I can't see clearly the conection here.

:

No, (pain ) is a word humans use to name the unpleasant sensations associated with tissue damage.

What exactly is considered an unpleasant sensation? How do you catrgorize an unpleasant sensation? Isn't it another human concept? You could say that a stimulus causes unpleasant sensations if the animal tries to avoid it, because it can cause tissue damage. Could it be a just a simple response to stimuli developed through the evolution of the animal's species, comparable to how a venus fly trap entombs an insect?

Sorry about all the questions above. I'm not trying to be confrontational, I'm just trying to understand your point of view.

paramiteabe · #30 05-07-2002, 03:19 AM

I eat meat because I just like it. But some people don't want it because they feel it is wrong to eat meat. I don't know I guess thats what it is or they just don't like meat. The important thing here is that we all have our own individualtiy and if we don't want to eat meat and be a vegeitarren then all power to ya. Same goes for people like myself who do eat meat. We live the way we live and we eat the way we eat. It's a fact of life.