"I'll pay for my mistakes in my next life"

Como pode aparecer

The strongest version

Strongest version (steelman):

1. P1Every wrong action has a consequence for the one who does it, in this life or another.
2. P2If I accept paying that consequence, the choice is mine.
3. CSo I can keep eating animals, as long as I accept the consequences.

P1 is a religious belief many people hold. The problem lies in P2: the choice doesn't affect only the one choosing. The animal suffers and dies now, and someone accepting to pay later changes nothing for them. A debt doesn't authorize doing the harm.

The argument is valid, but not sound: P2 treats harm done to another as a personal matter.

Full answer

1. a

   Reconstruction and diagnosis

   The phrase concedes the moral point and changes the subject:

   What the phrase admits	What it changes	What's left out
   Eating animals is a wrong	The question becomes about the consequence for the one who eats	The harm the animal suffers now

2. b

   Where the argument breaks

   1. The phrase admits the wrong.

   No one expects to pay for something right. As in E12, the moral point has already been conceded, and what remains is the decision to act.

   2. The one paying now is the animal.

   The eater's debt is future and uncertain. The animal's suffering is present and real. Accepting to pay later doesn't authorize causing the harm, just as accepting to go to prison doesn't authorize stealing.

   3. The traditions of karma teach non-violence.

   Ahimsa, non-violence toward all living beings, is a central virtue in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. In Buddhism, the first of the five precepts is not to take the life of any sentient being, and it includes animals. In Jainism, non-violence is the most important principle and leads to strict vegetarianism.

   4. Honesty about the tradition.

   Not all of these traditions require vegetarianism. In the early Buddhist texts, the Buddha accepted the food he was offered, meat included, as long as the animal hadn't been killed for him, and Theravada monks follow this rule to this day. But the rule was about accepting alms, not about buying meat, and later Mahayana sutras condemn eating meat. In none of these traditions is knowing you're doing wrong a license to carry on.

   5. Karma is about intention.

   In many Buddhist readings, what weighs in karma is intention (cetanā). Choosing to carry on with something you know is wrong, knowing it causes suffering, is exactly the kind of intention these traditions teach people to avoid.

3. c

   Data and sources

   Source	What it says	Note
   Five precepts	The first Buddhist precept forbids taking the life of humans and of all animals
   Ahimsa	Non-violence toward all living beings is a central virtue in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism
   Ahimsa in Jainism	Non-violence is the central principle of Jainism
   Buddhist vegetarianism	Theravada monks accept meat that is offered, unless the animal was killed for them; Mahayana sutras condemn eating meat
   Karma	Karma links intention and action to their consequences

4. d

   The strongest counter-reply: my faith says justice comes later, and it's not your place to judge

   The most serious version says: in my belief, justice is cosmic or divine, and each person answers for their own acts. No one needs to hold anyone to account here; the bill will be settled in due time.

5. e

   Why the counter-reply doesn't reach the conclusion

   No one is judging the person.

   The conversation is about the animal, who suffers now, not about the fate of the one who eats.

   Future justice doesn't protect the present animal.

   Even if the bill is settled later, the harm will already have happened.

   The beliefs themselves ask that the wrong be avoided.

   No tradition teaches that, because there is punishment later, it's acceptable to do wrong now.

Reasoning errors

Biases

Extrapolations

The principle being tested is: "I can do something I know is wrong, as long as I accept paying for it later".

Contradictions

What the argument gets right

Connections

References