[Avodah] torture in halacha???

[Zev Sero]

The Rambam derives the issur on causing a human pain, not from tzaar
baalei chayim but from "tachas asher inah".

Re: shkotzim uremoshim, does it make a difference that insects are
incapable of feeling pain?  Does it make a difference if you know
this fact?  Or is the *appearance* of cruelty what counts, since it
tends to foster a midas achzorius?

Re: not delaying a death sentence, surely that is part of "bror lo
misa yafa", which is derived from "ve'ahavta lere'acha kamocha".


-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon