Approach to Ethical Issues Based on Fundamental Informatics: School Days with a Pig as a Clue

摘要

This paper explores the difference between companion animals and domestic livestock from the viewpoint of neo-cybernetical informatics, referring to an educational trial which was to raise a young pig for eating. The problem in this trial is based on an informatic difference between seeing a pig as a friend and as food in daily lives. Our behavior as being a communicational actor should be distinguished from just being a non-communicational sign interpreter because we can assume ethical norms as long as a communication system continuously operates. This argument can be a starting point for developing a new discussion on ethical issues, not in terms of the difference of intelligence or the importance of lives, but in terms of the possibility of construction of a communication system with us.