The
bird which was made so that it might rove over half of the world, he
shuts up into the space of a cubic foot, there to die a slow death in
longing and crying for freedom; for in a cage it does not sing for
the pleasure of it. And when I see how man misuses the dog, his best
friend; how he ties up this intelligent animal with a chain, I feel
the deepest sympathy with the brute and burning indignation against
its master.
We shall see later that by taking a very high standpoint it is
possible to justify the sufferings of mankind. But this justification
cannot apply to animals, whose sufferings, while in a great measure
brought about by men, are often considerable even apart from their
agency.[1] And so we are forced to ask, Why and for what purpose does
all this torment and agony exist? There is nothing here to give the
will pause; it is not free to deny itself and so obtain redemption.
There is only one consideration that may serve to explain the
sufferings of animals. It is this: that the will to live, which
underlies the whole world of phenomena, must, in their case satisfy
its cravings by feeding upon itself. This it does by forming a
gradation of phenomena, every one of which exists at the expense of
another.
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