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<blockquote data-quote="uzirath" data-source="post: 7605567" data-attributes="member: 8495"><p>This gets me thinking. The sentences I bolded above could apply pretty well to most humans, right? But, maybe most humans are neutral? Could be. </p><p></p><p>There is also much debate among biologists about altruistic behaviors in various animal species. I read an article recently about humpback whales defending seals from a pod of orcas. This seemed to offer none of the usual benefits to the humpbacks (i.e., they can't expect reciprocal favors from the seals, nor are they helping their kinship group), so the researchers hypothesized that altruistic behaviors (defined as putting yourself at risk or expending resources for no gain) may be more deeply ingrained in many animal species. Would altruistic animals be "good" or do they require sapience to cross that line on the alignment graph?</p><p></p><p>And, of course, in a game world, one might define all animals (and plants, even) as sapient. In that scheme, would alignment apply primarily to how you treat your own species? So, for example, in most campaigns, you wouldn't judge a human as "evil" for slaying animals for food. Likewise, a sapient tiger hunting for food, wouldn't be evil either. But if it hunted other tigers? Or if it hunted humans?</p><p></p><p>Just musing aloud here.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="uzirath, post: 7605567, member: 8495"] This gets me thinking. The sentences I bolded above could apply pretty well to most humans, right? But, maybe most humans are neutral? Could be. There is also much debate among biologists about altruistic behaviors in various animal species. I read an article recently about humpback whales defending seals from a pod of orcas. This seemed to offer none of the usual benefits to the humpbacks (i.e., they can't expect reciprocal favors from the seals, nor are they helping their kinship group), so the researchers hypothesized that altruistic behaviors (defined as putting yourself at risk or expending resources for no gain) may be more deeply ingrained in many animal species. Would altruistic animals be "good" or do they require sapience to cross that line on the alignment graph? And, of course, in a game world, one might define all animals (and plants, even) as sapient. In that scheme, would alignment apply primarily to how you treat your own species? So, for example, in most campaigns, you wouldn't judge a human as "evil" for slaying animals for food. Likewise, a sapient tiger hunting for food, wouldn't be evil either. But if it hunted other tigers? Or if it hunted humans? Just musing aloud here. [/QUOTE]
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