The Universal Kinship

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

CONTENTS

THE PHYSICAL KINSHIP

I. Man an Animal II. Man a Vertebrate III. Man a Mammal IV. Man a Primate V. Recapitulation VI. The Meaning of Homology VII. The Earth an Evolution VIII. The Factors of Organic Evolution IX. The Evidences of Organic Evolution X. The Genealogy of Animals XI. Conclusion

THE PSYCHICAL KINSHIP

I. The Conflict of Science and Tradition II. Evidences of Psychical Evolution III. The Common-sense View IV. The Elements of Human and Non-human Mind Compared V. Conclusion

THE ETHICAL KINSHIP

I. Human Nature a Product of the Jungle II. Egoism and Altruism III. The Ethics of the Savage IV. The Ethics of the Ancient V. Modern Ethics VI. The Ethics of Human Beings Toward Non-human Beings VII. The Origin of Provincialism VIII. Universal Ethics IX. The Psychology of Altruism X. Anthropocentric Ethics XI. Ethical Implications of Evolution XII. Conclusion

THE PHYSICAL KINSHIP

I. Man an Animal II. Man a Vertebrate III. Man a Mammal IV. Man a Primate V. Recapitulation VI. The Meaning of Homology VII. The Earth an Evolution VIII. The Factors of Organic Evolution IX. The Evidences of Organic Evolution X. The Genealogy of Animals XI. Conclusion

‘Like the Roman emperors, who, intoxicated by their power, at length regarded themselves as demigods, so the ruler of the earth believes that the animals subjected to his will have nothing in common with his own nature. Man is not content to be the king of animals. He insists on having it that an impassable gulf separates him from his subjects. The affinity of the ape disturbs and humbles him. And, turning his back upon the earth, he flies, with his threatened majesty, into the cloudy sphere of a special “human kingdom.” But Anatomy, like those slaves who followed the conqueror’s car crying, “Thou art a man,” disturbs him in his self-admiration, and reminds him of those plain and tangible realities which unite him with the animal world.’