Frans de Waal quotes - page 2

There is little evidence that other animals judge the appropriateness of actions that do not directly affect themselves. (Frans de Waal)
The sturdiest pillars of human morality are compassion and a sense of justice. View quote
Frans de Waal
Human morality is unthinkable without empathy. View quote
Frans de Waal
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. View quote
Frans de Waal
I've argued that many of what philosophers call moral sentiments can be seen in other species. In chimpanzees and other animals, you see examples of sympathy, empathy, reciprocity, a willingness to follow social rules. Dogs are a good example of a species that have and obey social rules; that's why we like them so much, even though they're large carnivores. View quote
Frans de Waal
I am personally not against keeping animals at zoos, as they serve a huge educational purpose, but treating them well and with respect seems the least we could do, and with 'we' I mean not just zoo staff, but most certainly also the public. View quote
Frans de Waal
Science is not inherently good. View quote
Frans de Waal
The intuitive connection children feel with animals can be a tremendous source of joy. The unconditional love received from pets, and the lack of artifice in the relationship, contrast sharply with the much trickier dealings with members of their own species. View quote
Frans de Waal
The role of inequity in society is grossly underestimated. Inequity is not good for your health, basically. View quote
Frans de Waal
A chimpanzee who is really gearing up for a fight doesn't waste time with gestures but just goes ahead and attacks. View quote
Frans de Waal
Chimpanzees, typically, kiss and embrace after fights. They first make eye contact from a distance to see the mood of the others. Then they approach and kiss and embrace. (Frans de Waal)
The thinking is that we started evolving language not by speaking but by gesturing. View quote
Frans de Waal
I have often noticed how primate groups in their entirety enter a similar mood. All of a sudden, all of them are playful, hopping around. Or all of them are grumpy. Or all of them are sleepy and settle down. In such cases, the mood contagion serves the function of synchronizing activities. View quote
Frans de Waal
I think we need to start thinking about grounding our moral systems in our biology. View quote
Frans de Waal
You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society. View quote
Frans de Waal
The primate laugh is given in playful contexts, and as such has a strong similarity to the human laugh. View quote
Frans de Waal
I was raised Catholic. Not just a little bit Catholic, like my wife, Catherine. When she was young, many Catholics in France already barely went to church, except for the big three: baptism, marriage, and funeral. And only the middle one was by choice. View quote
Frans de Waal
Exclusive homosexuality is not very common in nature. View quote
Frans de Waal
In Africa, we have the bush meat trade, which means that, on a very large scale, animals are being killed in the forests and sold in the cities as a luxury food. View quote
Frans de Waal
Most exotic animals are not particularly interested in people, which makes it hard to provoke them. Human-rearing gets them used to and sometimes imprinted on humans, which makes them potentially dangerous. View quote
Frans de Waal
Humans have a lot of pro-social tendencies. (Frans de Waal)
I'm personally a nonbeliever, so I'm struggling with if we really need religion. View quote
Frans de Waal
It is hard to get animals which normally pay little attention to each other to do things together. One can teach dolphins to jump simultaneously out of the water precisely because they show similar behavior spontaneously, but try to make two domestic cats jump together and you will fail. View quote
Frans de Waal
Personally, I think it is possible to build a society that is moral on a nonreligious basis, but the jury is still out on that. View quote
Frans de Waal
After World War II it was decided that, in order to prevent the Germans and the French from having another war, it would be better to tie them together into one economic pact so they would invest in each other and have mutual stakes. Until now, that has worked to prevent warfare between the two. View quote
Frans de Waal