J. Howard (John Howard) Moore

Born in Indiana in 1862, J. Howard Moore was an American zoologist, teacher, lecturer, and reform writer. He studied at Drake University and later at the University of Chicago, and he became known for speaking and writing on evolution, ethics, education, and humanity’s treatment of animals.

Moore is best remembered for books including Better-World Philosophy, The Universal Kinship, and The New Ethics. Again and again, he argued that humans are part of the same living family as other creatures, and he pushed readers to think more seriously about compassion, justice, and the harm caused by cruelty.

He taught in Chicago and was active in progressive causes such as vegetarianism and anti-vivisection. Moore died in 1916, but his writing has continued to interest readers drawn to the early history of animal advocacy and big moral questions about how humans should live.