Leaving the 'Other' Out: Lewis Gompertz, the Victorians, Other Animals, and Us

Abstract

This paper looks at a point of semantic inconsistency among Victorians — the tendency to omit the word “other” in referring to “man and animals.” It looks too at SPCA co-founder Lewis Gompertz, a notable exception to the Victorian norm, exploring connections between Gompertz’s radical notions and his use of language, and inquiring into contrasts in this area between Gompertz and later Victorian activists — as well as between Gompertz and activists in our own day, many of whom are just as inconsistent as were most Victorian activists in the ways in which they refer to humans and other animals.