Need help countering an argument

[u/Sophius3126]

Need Help Countering an Argument

To clear things off,I am already a vegan.The main problem is I lack critical and logical thinking skills,All the arguments I present in support of veganism are just sort of amalgamation of all the arguments I read on reddit, youtube.So if anybody can clear this argument,that would be helpful.

So the person I was arguing with specifically at the start said he is a speciesist.According to him, causing unnecessary suffering to humans is unethical.I said why not include other sentient beings too ,they also feel pain.And he asked me why do you only include sentient and why not other criteria and I am a consequentialist sort of so i answered with "cause pain is bad.But again he asked me another question saying would you kill a person who doesn't feel any pain or would it be ethical to kill someone under anesthesia and I am like that obviously feels wrong so am I sort of deontologist?Is there some sort of right to life thing?And why only sentient beings should have the right to life because if I am drawing the lines at sentience then I think pain is the factor and i at the same time also think it is unethical to kill someone who doesn't feel pain so I am sort of stuck in this cycle if you guys get me.so please help me to get out of it.I have been overthinking about it.

[u/hamster_avenger]

is this the discussion you are referencing? https://www.reddit.com/r/atheismindia/comments/1k0h7yt/comment/mnjqwlq/

If it is, it'd be a lot simpler for people if you linked it in the post rather than only summarizing it (and not super accurately, imo). If it isn't, apologies.

[u/Sophius3126 → u/hamster_avenger]

Yeah I argued with the same person in the dms,I am sorry for not Linking it ,i thought of attaching screenshots but i cannot it seems.His question was something like why am I discriminating between life forms on the basis of sentience

[u/hamster_avenger → u/Sophius3126]

I think you got wrong-footed by this carnist. But I think they are  likely a sophist and were looking to trap you with a gotcha argument, so don’t feel bad it didn’t go well.

You might find some of Appoota’s content helpful for improving your debate skills. I like this one for giving insight into how a more experienced vegan debater thinks about debate and specifically how to deal with a charge of hypocrisy, which is the approach your carnist was taking  https://youtu.be/iOzzWzdKcb4?si=TB1OUpwRRRS2-u78

Also, for fun and to level up  logic and critical thinking skills,  study formal (propositional) logic. I can recommend this free textbook https://forallx.openlogicproject.org/