H. J. McCloskey

Henry John McCloskey was an Australian moral philosopher and writer who served as Professor of Philosophy at La Trobe University in Melbourne after appointments at the University of Western Australia and the University of Melbourne, and was president of the Australasian Association of Philosophy in 1978. He is known for his sheriff scenario, a thought experiment used to criticize what later came to be called act utilitarianism. An atheist, he argued that the problem of evil provides conclusive evidence against theism, and he was a noted critic of animal rights, holding that animals cannot have moral rights though they can be given legal ones.