If every living creature belongs to one family, where should our kindness end?

In The Universal Kinship, J. Howard Moore follows Darwin’s ideas beyond the origins of life and into questions of conduct. His argument moves through three forms of kinship: physical, mental and ethical. Shared ancestry, he argues, asks us to rethink not only what animals are, but what we owe them.

Moore draws on anatomy, embryology and animal behavior to connect bodies, minds and feelings. Then he brings his case into daily life: eating, hunting, fashion and experiments on living creatures. The stakes are concrete. Can people accept their place in the animal family while allowing customs that cause its other members harm?

この本で学べること

• The body's family ties Explore the shared patterns of skeletons, nerves, blood and organs that anchor Moore’s argument.
• Minds across species Follow his case that human and animal minds differ in degree, not in kind.
• Feeling as a foundation Consider an ethics rooted in the capacity to suffer harm or receive help.
• Custom under scrutiny See familiar habits tested against the kinship Moore finds throughout the animal world.
• A passionate historical argument Encounter an early case for wider justice, with a one-sided tone and dated science.

どのような方におすすめですか？

博物学、初期のダーウィン思想、動物の物語、道徳をめぐる議論が好きな読者には、読みどころの多い本です。強い語り口と信念を持つ書き手にも出会えます。