Do the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter as much as the pleasure and pain of humans (speciesism)?

Yes I believe that the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter as much as humans. Humans are also animals; we cannot say we are better than other animals. Have you ever had a pet, and something happen to it and it whimpered? When I was younger I had a dog and her paw got caught in a mousetrap, and she barked and shrieked that almost sounded like a human scream. That is when I knew that animals could feel pain the same way that I did when I would get hurt. To me that demonstrated that pain is pain, regardless if is human or non-human. Now pain may be different for everyone or even every species, but suffering no matter what should be treated equally. I have seen videos of how some of the animals are treated very poorly and live in terrible conditions. At one point I became a vegetarian for over a year because of what I had seen. Again suffering is suffering no matter what.

Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts (virtue ethics vs. action ethics)?

I personally think it is more important to perform good acts rather than just being a good person. You can walk through life and be the type of person who does not harm to anyone, or anything good for others. They take care of themselves and their own surroundings, but never give themselves to others. Yes there are good people because they bring no harm others, but in my opinion making no impact on life. For example, take one of my neighbors. He keeps to himself, he takes extra care of his lawn, he drives nice a nice car. One-day my other neighbor who is in her 60’s, she was out shoveling her driveway. He drove by and waved, but never stopped to see if she needed any assistance. During her shoveling, she slipped and broke her arm. Now again he was nice and waved, but never offered to lift a finger to help her out, and she ended up getting hurt. Would this have happened if he offered to help, I say probably not! As the phrase goes “action speaks louder than words”.

Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)?

I feel that my own life worth is equal to others, no more, no less. No matter how much money a person makes, the job a person does, or the place someone lives, ultimately we are all of the same equal species. Power or monetary value does not determine the worth of the person’s life. Once I was with some people and there was a story on TV about a homeless Man getting shot and killed on the streets of Philadelphia. One of the people in the group says, “Well at least it was just a homeless guy that got shot, he was probably glad to not be here anymore and no longer suffering”. I was shocked by the response that someone would feel this way. He was still a human, a soul, an individual who got shot and killed. We may have different backgrounds and have different color skin but we all bleed the same color and can experience pain. His life did matter, no matter what he had in life.