Frans De Waal Quotes
Morality, after all, has nothing to do with selflessness. On the contrary, self-interest is precisely the basis of the categorical imperative.
We would much rather blame nature for what we don't like in ourselves than credit it for what we do like.
When we are bad, we are worse than any primate that I know. And when we are good, we are actually better and more altruistic than any primate that I know.
There's actually a lot of evidence in primates and other animals that they return favors.
Empathy probably started out as a mechanism to improve maternal care. Mammalian mothers who were attentive to their young's needs were more likely to rear successful offspring.
The fact that the apes exist and that we can study them is extremely important and makes us reflect on ourselves and our human nature. In that sense alone, you need to protect the apes.
People want to work with somebody who feels shame, who worries about the perceptions of others. Dishonesty is something we don't like in others.
A chimpanzee who is really gearing up for a fight doesn't waste time with gestures but just goes ahead and attacks.
The enemy of science is not religion. Religion comes in endless shapes and forms... The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma.
Experiments with animals have long been handicapped by our anthropocentric attitude: We often test them in ways that work fine with humans but not so well with other species.
Without agreement on rank and a certain respect for authority there can be no great sensitivity to social rules, as anyone who has tried to teach simple house rules to a cat will agree.
Ironically, torture requires empathy, too, in the sense that one cannot deliberately inflict pain without realizing what is painful.
If faith makes people buy an entire package of myths and values without asking too many questions, scientists are only slightly better.
It is said that man is wolf to man. I find this very unfair to wolves.