THE ETHICS OF HUMAN BEINGS 273 



from clan to tribe, from tribe to confederacy, 

 from confederacy to kingdom, from kingdom to 

 race, from race to species, until, in the case of 

 many millions of men, ethical feeling has reached, 

 with greater or less vividness and consistency, the 

 anthropocentric stage of evolution. The fact that 

 an individual is a man that is, that he belongs to 

 the human species of animals entitles him in all 

 civilised lands to the fundamental rights and 

 privileges of existence. The rights to life, liberty, 

 and the pursuit of happiness are believed to-day, by 

 all exalted minds, to be the inalienable properties 

 of every human being who comes into the world. 



But, except by occasional individuals here and 

 there whose emotions are more civilised than the 

 rest, or whose conceptions are more ample and 

 clear, ethical relations are not extended by human 

 beings beyond the bounds of their own species. 

 Non-human millions are outsiders. They are 

 looked upon and treated by human beings as if 

 they were an entirely different order of existences, 

 with entirely different purposes and susceptibilities, 

 from human beings. They are not considered to 

 be living beings at all, as human beings are, 

 who are here in the world to enjoy life and 

 all that life holds that is dear to a living being. 

 They belong to the same class of existences as 

 the waves of the sea and the weeds of the field. 

 They are looked upon as mere things mere 

 moving, multiplying objects, without the slightest 

 equity in the world in which they find themselves. 

 They may be set upon, beaten, maimed, starved, 



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