Henry John McCloskey (1925–2000) was an Australian

moral philosopher Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied ethics ...

and writer. McCloskey was Professor of Philosophy at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. After graduating from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

, he had appointments at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

and the University of Melbourne before taking up a chair at La Trobe. He was president of the Australasian Association of Philosophy in 1978. McCloskey is known for his sheriff scenario, a thought experiment he used to criticize "extreme"

utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...

, or what later came to be known as

act utilitarianism Act utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory of ethics that states that a person's act is morally right if and only if it produces the best possible results in that specific situation. Classical utilitarians, including Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart M ...

. He was married to Mary Agnes McCloskey. McCloskey was an atheist. He argued that the

problem of evil The problem of evil is the philosophical question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an Omnipotence, omnipotent, Omnibenevolence, omnibenevolent, and Omniscience, omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ...

provides conclusive evidence against

theism Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one deity. In common parlance, or when contrasted with '' deism'', the term often describes the philosophical conception of God that is found in classical theism—or the co ...

. McCloskey was a noted critic of

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

. McCloskey stated that animals cannot have moral rights but they can be given legal rights.

Selected publications

Articles
''Rights''
('' The Philosophical Quarterly'', 1965)
''The Right to Life''
(''

Mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...

'', 1975)
''Moral Rights and Animals''
('' Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy'', 1979) Books * ''Morality Without Religion'' (1961) * ''The Problem of Liberalism'' (1965) * ''Utilitarian and Retributive Punishment'' (1967) * ''Meta-ethics and Normative Ethics'' (1969) * ''The Political Philosophy of Liberalism'' (1973) * ''John Stuart Mill: A Critical Study'' (1971) * ''God and Evil'' (1974) * ''Ecological Ethics and Politics'' (1983)

References

1925 births 2000 deaths Atheist philosophers 20th-century Australian philosophers Critics of animal rights Academic staff of La Trobe University Rationalists {{philosopher-stub