Learning Morality from MonkeysFrans de Waal is director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and a professor of psychology at Emory University. His current research includes food-sharing, social reciprocity, and conflict-resolution in primates as well as the origins of morality and justice in human society. De Waal draws on his own work with primates to illustrate the evolution of morality.
The Age of Empathy Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society
Are we our brothers’ keepers? Do we have an instinct for compassion? Or are we, as is often assumed, only on earth to serve our own survival and interest? In this thought-provoking book, the acclaimed author of Our Inner Ape explores how empathy comes naturally to humans and other animals.
Drawing from fieldwork and laboratory research on chimpanzees, bonobos, and capuchins—as well as on dolphins and elephants—de Waal shows us that many animals are predisposed to take care of one another, come to one another’s aid, and, in some cases, take life-saving action. De Waal argues that human biology similarly offers a giant helping hand to those striving for a just society, and that every human is destined to be humane. Written in layman’s prose with a wealth of anecdotes, wry humor, and incisive intelligence, THE AGE OF EMPATHY is essential reading for our embattled times.
Frans de Waal is a psychology professor at Emory University with a Ph.D. in biology. He is the author of many books, including Chimpanzee Politics and Our Inner Ape. The director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, de Waal was ranked among the World’s 100 Most Influential People of 2007 by Time.
