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The Universal Kinship

The Universal Kinship is a 1906 book by American zoologist and philosopher J. Howard Moore. In the book, Moore presents Universal Kinship, a secular sentientist philosophy based on Darwinian principles of shared evolutionary kinship and the application of the Golden Rule to all sentient beings. The book criticizes anthropocentric ethical systems and argues that moral concern should extend beyond the human species.

The Universal Kinship
First edition cover
AuthorJ. Howard Moore
LanguageEnglish
SeriesInternational Library of Social Science
SubjectsAnimal ethics, evolution, zoology
GenrePhilosophy
PublisherCharles H. Kerr & Co.
Publication date
1906
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages329
OCLC3704446
TextThe Universal Kinship at the Internet Archive

The book developed arguments Moore had made in Better-World Philosophy (1899) and was followed by The New Ethics (1907). It was endorsed by several contemporary figures, including Henry S. Salt, Mark Twain, Jack London, Eugene V. Debs, and Mona Caird.

Background

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Moore, c. 1899

J. Howard Moore (1862–1912) was an American zoologist and philosopher. He was an advocate of animal rights and ethical vegetarianism, and his writings drew on zoology, evolutionary theory, and moral philosophy. Moore was also connected with the humanitarian movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including campaigns concerned with the treatment of both humans and animals.[1]

The Universal Kinship was one of several works by Moore on vegetarianism, animal ethics, and evolutionary thought, including Why I Am a Vegetarian (1895), Better-World Philosophy (1899), and The New Ethics (1907).[1]

Summary

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The Universal Kinship is divided into three parts, on physical, psychical, and ethical kinship between humans and nonhuman animals. To support his arguments, Moore drew "extensively upon the fields of geology, paleontology, and biology, together with the works of evolutionary scientists such as Darwin, Huxley, Haeckel, Romanes, and Lubbock."[2]

The Physical Kinship

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The first section concerns biological continuity between humans and other animals. Moore argues that humans are not fundamentally separate from other animals, but belong within the animal kingdom and share common ancestry with other living beings.

Moore discusses the classification of humans as vertebrates and mammals, pointing to shared characteristics such as internal skeletons, four-chambered hearts, and the ability to nourish offspring with milk. He also discusses the relationship between humans and other primates, particularly the anthropoid apes, emphasizing similarities in anatomy, behavior, and evolutionary history. He uses these comparisons to reject the idea of an unbridgeable gulf between humans and other species. The section also discusses homology, treating similarities among species as evidence of common ancestry and evolutionary processes.

The Psychical Kinship

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The second section concerns mental and emotional continuity between humans and other animals. Moore challenges the view that human consciousness and mental abilities are unique in kind, arguing that capacities such as problem-solving, memory, emotion, and social behavior are also found, in varying degrees, among nonhuman animals.

Moore describes a conflict between science and inherited tradition, arguing that religious and cultural beliefs had encouraged the idea that humans possess a unique, divinely granted soul or consciousness. Against this, he cites developments in biology, psychology, and the study of animal behavior as evidence that many animals exhibit cognitive and emotional capacities similar to those of humans.

Moore argues that mental faculties evolved in animals just as physical traits did. He discusses problem-solving, social organization, and communication as evidence that human and nonhuman minds differ in complexity rather than in kind.

The Ethical Kinship

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The final section concerns the moral implications of human-animal kinship. Moore traces the development of human ethics from early self-interested conduct to broader forms of altruism and compassion. He argues that moral concern expanded over time but remained limited by anthropocentrism.

Moore criticizes ethical systems that place human interests above all other forms of life and justify the exploitation of animals. He argues that this contradicts the Golden Rule, which, if applied consistently, should extend beyond the human species to all sentient beings.

In presenting Universal Kinship, Moore calls for the revision of human ethical principles in light of evolutionary continuity. He argues that humans should recognize duties toward other animals and extend compassion and justice to them.

Reception

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1906 newspaper article about Moore and The Universal Kinship

The Universal Kinship was praised by several contemporary writers and reformers. The English writer Henry S. Salt, Moore's friend and fellow animal rights advocate, later described the book in his autobiography as "the best ever written in the humanitarian cause".[3] After the book's publication in the United Kingdom, Salt promoted it through his Humanitarian League network.[2] The book received positive reviews in The Daily Telegraph, the Evening Standard, The Clarion, and Reynold's News.[4]

American socialist Eugene V. Debs wrote: "[i]t is impossible for me to express my appreciation of your masterly work. It is simply great, and every socialist and student of sociology should read it."[5] Debs was inspired by the book to publish "Man and Mule", an article reflecting on the relationship between humans and mules.[6]

Moore sent a copy of the book to the American writer Mark Twain, who replied:[7]

The book has furnished me several days of deep pleasure and satisfaction; it has compelled my gratitude at the same time, since it saves me the labor of stating my own long-cherished opinions and reflections and resentments by doing it lucidly and fervently and irascibly for me.

In an endorsement, the American writer Jack London stated:[8]

Mr. Moore has a broad grasp and shows masterly knowledge of the subject. And withal the interest never flags. The book reads like a novel. One is constantly keyed up and expectant. Mr. Moore is to be congratulated upon the magnificent way in which he has made alive the dull, heavy processes of the big books. And, then, there is his style. He uses splendid virile English and shows a fine appreciation of the values of words. He uses always the right word.

In his copy, London marked the passage "All beings are ends; no creatures are means. All beings have not equal rights, neither have all men; but all have rights."[9]

English feminist and writer Mona Caird wrote a personal letter to Moore after reading the book, stating:[10]

It leaves me in a glow of enthusiasm and hope. It seems like the embodiment of years of almost despairing effort and pain of all of us who have felt these things. That which we have been thinking and feeling—some in one direction and some in another, some in fuller understanding and breadth, others in little flashes of insight here and there—all seems gathered together, expressed, and given form and color and life in your wonderful book.

American socialist Julius Wayland also endorsed the book, describing it as "not exactly socialism", but saying that it would open up a new world for its readers and that it was a "scientific education within itself."[11]

Criticism

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The National Anti-Vivisection Society approved of Moore's discussion of "the ethical kinship" between humans and animals, but objected to the idea that evolution could explain the development of human mental capacity. The RSPCA considered Moore's arguments well supported, but objected to his Darwinian perspective, stating that "there is much in it that cannot be agreed with".[12]

G. M. A., reviewing the book in The American Naturalist, wrote: "While agreeing with the author that 'the art of being kind' is in sore need of cultivation among us, one cannot but be amused at the mixture of fact and error, observation and travelers' tales, seriousness of statement and straining after absurd expressions, that characterizes this not unreadable book."[13] J. R. Swanton in American Anthropologist was also critical, writing that "[i]ts failing, as in the case of so many works of similar nature, is that in sweeping away impassable gulfs it ignores real differences."[14]

Legacy

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In The Universal Kinship, Moore criticizes human anthropocentrism, writing: "We think of our acts toward non-human peoples [...] entirely from the human point of view. We never take the time to put ourselves in the places of our victims."[15]: 304  He also argues that arrogance prevents humans from recognizing kinship with nonhuman animals and leads to their mistreatment, comparing this "provincialist" attitude with chauvinism and racism:[15]: 276 

The denial by human animals of ethical relations to the rest of the animal world is a phenomenon not differing either in character or cause from the denial of ethical relations by a tribe, people, or race of human beings to the rest of the human world.

These arguments have been described by contemporary scholars as antecedents of the concept of speciesism, a term coined 63 years later by Richard D. Ryder.[16][17][18]

Publication history

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Advertisement for Moore's works, 1908

The book's publisher, Charles H. Kerr & Co., included the book in its International Library of Social Science series, which was described as "positively indispensable to the student of socialism."[19] In 1906, the same year as the book's original publication, The Whole World Kin, a condensed version of the book, was published in London by George Bell & Sons.[20]: 127  George Bell & Sons also published an unabridged edition, as did the Humanitarian League.[21][22]

In the same year, Felix Ortt produced a Dutch translation of the book.[23] In 1908, Ōsugi Sakae and Sakai Toshihiko translated the book into Japanese.[24]

The book was out of print for several years, but was reissued by Charles H. Kerr & Co. in 1916 after renewed demand.[25]

It was reissued by Centaur Press in 1992, edited by animal rights philosopher Charles R. Magel. The edition included appendices such as "letters from Moore to Salt, a biographical essay and the eulogy Clarence Darrow delivered at Moore's funeral."[26]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 Davey, Donna L. (2009). "J. Howard Moore". In Furey, Hester Lee (ed.). Dictionary of Literary Biography. American Radical and Reform Writers: Second Series. Vol. 345. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale. ISBN 978-0-7876-8163-0. OCLC 241304990 – via Internet Archive.
  2. 1 2 Li, Chien-hui (2017). Mobilizing Traditions in the First Wave of the British Animal Defense Movement. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 250–252. ISBN 978-1-137-52651-9.
  3. ↑ "J. Howard Moore". Henry S. Salt Society. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  4. ↑ "The Universal Kinship". The Humane Review: 3. April 1906.
  5. ↑ "Publishers' Department" (PDF). International Socialist Review. 7: 509. February 1, 1907.
  6. ↑ Debs, Eugene V. (August 4, 1906). "Man and Mule" (PDF). The Chicago Socialist. 6 (387): 2.
  7. ↑ Paine, Albert Bigelow (2018). Mark Twain: A Biography: Volume 2: 1886 - 1910. Jazzybee Verlag. pp. 216–217. ISBN 978-3-8496-7261-4.
  8. ↑ London, Jack (1907). "Books on Socialism Modern Science, etc.". In Simons, Algie Martin (ed.). Class Struggles in America (3rd ed.). Chicago: C. H. Kerr & Co. p. 10.
  9. ↑ Bruni, John (March 15, 2014). Scientific Americans: The Making of Popular Science and Evolution in Early-Twentieth-Century U.S. Literature and Culture. University of Wales Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-78316-018-1.
  10. ↑ Caird, Mona (1900). "A Letter from Mona Caird". In Simons, Algie Martin (ed.). International Socialist Review. Vol. 7. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co. p. 63.
  11. ↑ "London and Wayland Endorse 'The Universal Kinship'". Appeal to Reason. September 8, 1906. p. 3. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Books of the Month". The Animal World: 122. May 1906.
  13. ↑ G. M. A. (1906). "The Universal Kinship". The American Naturalist. 40 (479): 806. doi:10.1086/278684. ISSN 0003-0147. JSTOR 2455038.
  14. ↑ Swanton, J. R. (1906). "Review of The Universal Kinship". American Anthropologist. 8 (4): 706. doi:10.1525/aa.1906.8.4.02a00140. ISSN 0002-7294. JSTOR 659194.
  15. 1 2 Moore, J. Howard (1906). The Universal Kinship. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co.
  16. ↑ Walters, Kerry S.; Portmess, Lisa, eds. (1999). Ethical Vegetarianism: From Pythagoras to Peter Singer. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-7914-4043-8.
  17. ↑ Engel, Mylan; Jenni, Kathie (2010). The Philosophy of Animal Rights. Lantern Books. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-59056-263-5.
  18. ↑ Ryder, Richard D. (2009). "Speciesism". In Bekoff, Marc (ed.). Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 527. ISBN 9780313352560.
  19. ↑ "The International Library of Social Science" (PDF). International Socialist Review. Vol. 7, no. 1. July 1906. p. 63. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  20. ↑ Jarvis, Gary K. (May 2009). The Road Not Taken: Humanitarian Reform and the Origins of Animal Rights in Britain and the United States, 1883-1919 (PhD thesis). The University of Iowa. OCLC 760887727.
  21. ↑ Moore, J. Howard (1906). The Universal Kinship. London: George Bell & Sons.
  22. ↑ Moore, J. Howard (1906). The Universal Kinship. London: Humanitarian League.
  23. ↑ Moore, John Howard (1906). De universeele verwantschap: een uiteenzetting van de evolutieleer van dier en mensch (in Dutch). Translated by Ortt, Felix. 's-Gravenhage: Vereeniging Vrede. OCLC 65656538.
  24. ↑ Moore, J. Howard (1908). Banbutsu no dōkon ichizoku. Heimin kagaku (in Japanese). Vol. 6. Translated by Ōsugi, Sakae; Sakai, Toshihiko. Tokyo: Yūrakusha. OCLC 70795108.
  25. ↑ "The Universal Kinship" (PDF). International Socialist Review. 16 (8): 447. February 1916 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
  26. ↑ Unti, Bernard (2014). ""Peace on earth among the orders of creation": Vegetarian Ethics in the United States Before World War I". In Helstosky, Carol (ed.). The Routledge History of Food. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 198. doi:10.4324/9781315753454. ISBN 978-1-315-75345-4.
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