This thesis by Gary K. Jarvis explores the Humanitarian movement in Britain and the United States from the 1880s to the end of World War I, with a particular focus on its origins and its connections to contemporary reform movements and science. The central argument is that Humanitarianism, which strongly advocated for the rights of non-human animals, was not primarily about animals themselves. Instead, the Humanitarians’ unique perspective on the human-animal relationship stemmed from a blend of Romantic ideals and Darwinian evolutionary theory.
The author contends that the Humanitarians’ efforts to limit human exploitation of animals for labor, entertainment, medical experimentation, and food were not driven by excessive sensitivity or sentimentality towards animals. Rather, these actions were outward expressions of an ethical belief system that sought to reconcile shifting understandings of humanity and its place in the natural world. Drawing on Darwin’s The Descent of Man, Humanitarians argued that shared evolutionary heritage between humans and non-human animals negated traditional religious and cultural hierarchies. They aimed to redefine the human-animal relationship based on objective biological similarity, extending a rational and modern system of ethics to include most non-human animals and all humans. According to Humanitarians, exploitation of any living being, regardless of species, was inherently wrong.
Despite the presence of groups like the Humanitarian League in Britain and vocal advocates in the US, Humanitarianism was never a highly organized or popular movement. It was more a loose network of like-minded reformers and intellectuals united by shared values and arguments for pragmatic, ethically consistent reform that included concerns for non-human animals. While it failed to gain widespread influence, the movement remains historically significant because its core values challenged and attempted to rewrite traditional cultural assumptions about human-animal relationships. Humanitarians offered a competing vision for these relationships, aiming to clarify moral and ethical questions and pave the way for a peaceful future for both animals and humans.
A key distinction explored in the thesis is between animal welfare and animal rights. While established animal protection organizations like Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) focused on humane treatment and avoiding overt cruelty, Humanitarians rejected this welfare model. They asserted that non-human animals possessed fundamental rights, a concept articulated by Henry Salt in his 1892 treatise Animals’ Rights. Salt argued that if humans have rights, animals must also, as the same sense of justice and compassion applies to both. He drew parallels to the historical denial of personhood to groups like women, children, and African slaves.
The Humanitarian reform impulse extended beyond animal and dietary concerns to diverse causes such as peace movements and prison reform. A defining feature of Humanitarianism was the belief that the same anthropocentric cultural forces shaping human attitudes towards animals also generated other social injustices. They viewed acts like capital punishment, imperialism, and animal slaughter as interrelated manifestations of the same fundamental prejudices.
Despite early optimism, the Humanitarian discourse on animal rights was largely ignored or ridiculed, while animal welfare gained broader acceptance. By the mid-1910s, the movement faded into obscurity, its demise solidified by World War I. Although later animal liberation movements in the 1960s and 1970s echoed Humanitarian arguments, the animal welfare model had become deeply entrenched.
The thesis highlights the concept of “Romantic materialism” as central to Humanitarian philosophy. This involved combining a subjective interest in “consciousness and self-expression” with an objective, materialistic interpretation of nature, drawing from both Romantic literature and Darwinian science. Henry Salt, a key figure, championed ethical vegetarianism, arguing it was based on unavoidable moral and biological truths and connected to broader issues of social justice. The Humanitarian League, formally organised in 1891 with Salt as secretary, aimed to systematically protest various “barbarisms of the age,” including cruelties inflicted on both humans and animals.
Thesis Chapters
- Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter sets the stage by introducing the Humanitarian movement in Britain and the United States from the 1880s to the end of World War I. It argues that Humanitarianism, despite its focus on animal rights, was fundamentally about reconciling evolving understandings of humanity and its place in the natural world, drawing from Romantic ideals and Darwinian theory. The introduction also distinguishes between animal welfare and animal rights, highlighting the Humanitarian rejection of the former in favour of the latter, as championed by Henry Salt. It explains that Humanitarians saw a common source of injustice in the exploitation of both humans and animals, advocating for a broad range of reforms beyond just animal concerns, such as peace movements and prison reform. The chapter also touches upon the ultimate decline and obscurity of the movement by the mid-1910s.
- Chapter 2: Romanticizing Nature This chapter posits that the foundational doctrines of Humanitarianism were deeply rooted in the founders’ reverence for Romantic naturalism, exemplified by the poetry of Percy Shelley and Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy of living in harmony with nature. It explores how the shared literary backgrounds of key figures like Edward Carpenter, Henry Salt, and Alexander Japp influenced the movement’s early development through their work as literary critics, poets, and authors. The chapter also notes the contributions of other writers admired by early Humanitarians, including James Thomson, Richard Jefferies, and Thomas De Quincey.
- Chapter 3: Darwinizing Morality / Establishing the Universal Kinship This chapter delves into the second primary influence on the Humanitarian and ethical vegetarian movements: Darwinism and evolutionary biology. While Humanitarians derived ethical beliefs from literary sources, Darwinian theory provided the rational and materialist foundation for these ideas. The 1871 publication of Darwin’s The Descent of Man was particularly crucial, offering objective confirmation of a common ancestry for all life, including humans and animals. By challenging humanity’s special status, Darwin’s work provided a compelling argument against anthropocentrism, which reformers viewed as the root of all inequality. The chapter also examines how other evolutionary theories, such as Ernst Haeckel’s concept of ontogenetic recapitulation and George Romanes’ research on animal intelligence, further supported Humanitarian thought regarding the shared psychological and physical development of all living beings. It highlights the Humanitarian belief that accepting this “universal kinship” would lead to a utopian future based on altruism and the Golden Rule.
- Chapter 4: Vegetal Shoes and Hydrocarbonaceous Substances: Humanitarianism and the Promise of Science, Medicine, and Technology This chapter examines the complex relationship between Humanitarians and the science and scientific culture of their era. It particularly focuses on how evolutionary biology validated their Romantic beliefs about the interconnectedness of humans, non-human animals, and the natural world. The chapter discusses the Humanitarians’ efforts to emphasize ethical consistency and scientific rhetoric to counter accusations of sentimentality, despite often facing ridicule and unscientific refutations from the scientific establishment. It highlights their attempts to demonstrate the scientific and nutritional validity of a plant-based diet, as exemplified by the debate between Dr. James Dwight Craig and Dr. Edwin Younkin. The chapter also touches on the Humanitarian critique of contemporary medicine’s mechanistic approach, which they believed ignored the holistic dimensions of health and the interconnectedness of mind and body.
- Chapter 5: Humanizing Science This chapter explores how Humanitarians believed that science, despite its claims of objectivity, was inherently a human construction and therefore flawed if it ignored subjective aspects of human experience like morality and duty. It delves into the Humanitarian push for a “humane science” that would balance objective investigation with ethical considerations, leading to “sanity of body, soul, and spirit”.
- Chapter 6: Human/Animal While the thesis introduction provides a general overview of the Humanitarians’ stance on the human-animal relationship, a dedicated chapter titled “Human/Animal” would likely delve deeper into the philosophical underpinnings of their argument for animal rights, exploring how they sought to dismantle traditional anthropocentric views and establish a more egalitarian moral community that included non-human animals based on shared evolutionary heritage and capacity for suffering. This chapter would likely present extensive arguments and examples from Salt and Moore on breaking down the “impassable barrier” between humans and animals.
- Chapter 7: Of Beagles and Butchers: Humanitarianism and Contemporary Animal-Related Movements This chapter details how the Humanitarian movement aimed to be a broad coalition of social reform impulses, not just confined to animal issues. It would likely explore their engagement with other animal-related movements of the time, such as anti-vivisectionism, and their distinct position compared to more traditional animal welfare organizations. The chapter might also analyze the specific arguments and tactics Humanitarians used against practices like vivisection and bloodsports.
- Chapter 8: Friends and Enemies: Humanitarianism and the Humanist Movement This chapter explores the challenges Humanitarians faced in collaborating with mainstream reform organizations, including those outside animal advocacy. It would probably discuss how ideological differences and the perception of Humanitarians as too radical or idealistic hindered their efforts to gain wider acceptance and influence. The chapter might detail specific instances of attempted alliances and their outcomes, such as their engagement with prison reform and their critiques of organizations like the Howard Association. It could also delve into their efforts to counter public misconceptions, such as the belief that corporal punishment effectively reduced crime.
- Epilogue
Notes
The full thesis is in our archive