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The Universal Kinship

Chapter 1: The Universal Kinship
By J. Howard Moore
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Philosophy & EthicsScience - Biology

About This Book

An argument for biological and moral continuity between humans and other animals, organized into sections on physical kinship, psychical kinship, and ethical kinship. The author uses anatomy, comparative biology, and evolutionary theory to demonstrate shared structure, common descent, and homologous traits; then examines mental life and behavior to highlight continuities of perception, emotion, and social instincts; and finally considers ethical implications, criticizing anthropocentrism and urging expanded compassion and legal regard for nonhuman beings. The work blends scientific evidence, philosophical analysis, and moral appeal to advocate a universal ethic based on common life and evolutionary relatedness.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Universal Kinship

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Title: The Universal Kinship

Author: J. Howard Moore

Release date: February 9, 2020 [eBook #61363]
Most recently updated: October 17, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by L. Reeves from scans generously made available
by the Internet Archive.

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNIVERSAL KINSHIP ***

The Universal Kinship

By

J. Howard Moore

Instructor in zoology, Crane Manual Training High School, Chicago

‘A Sacred Kinship I would not forego
Binds me to all that breathes.’

— Boyesen.

Chicago
Charles H. Kerr & Company
56 Fifth Avenue
1906



To

my dear mother and father

who have done so much for me in the long years

that are past and gone

Preface

The Universal Kinship means the kinship of all the inhabitants of the planet Earth. Whether they came into existence among the waters or among desert sands, in a hole in the earth, in the hollow of a tree, or in a palace; whether they build nests or empires; whether they swim, fly, crawl, or ambulate; and whether they realise it or not, they are all related, physically, mentally, morally—this is the thesis of this book. But since man is the most gifted and influential of animals, and since his relationship with other animals is more important and more reluctantly recognised than any other, the chief purpose of these pages is to prove and interpret the kinship, of the human species with the other species of animals.

The thesis of this book comes pretty squarely in conflict with widely-practised and highly-prized sins. It will therefore be generally criticised where it is not passed by in silence. Men as a rule do not care to improve. Although they have but one life to live, they are satisfied to live the thing out as they have started on it.

Enthusiasm, which in an enlightened or ideal race would be devoted to self-improvement, is used by men in weaving excuses for their own inertia or in singing of the infirmities of others.

But there is a Future. And the creeds and ideals, men bow down to to-day will in time to come pass away, and new creeds and ideals will claim their allegiance. Shrines change as the generations come and go, and out of the decomposition of the old comes the new. The time will come when the sentiments of these pages will not be hailed by two or three, and ridiculed or ignored by the rest; they will represent Public Opinion and Law.

M.
Chicago, 1905