By Frans de Waal
Norton, March 2013
If God is dead and nature red in tooth and claw, “what could possibly explain human morality?” That’s the crux of primatologist Frans de Waal’s tenth book. Having long watched bonobos and chimpanzees aid and comfort one another, displaying fairness, friendship, gratitude, and regret, de Waal refuses to view morality either as an imposition from on high or as merely a hypocritical stratagem of selfish genes.
Rather, he roots human morals in the rich middle ground of emotion that mediates survival for mammals, securing the advantages of maternal nurturing and group living. He argues that we’re hardwired for empathy, that mirror neurons blur the self/other distinction, and that kindness is pleasurable, not sacrificial. But he also respects the ...
