Frans de Waal, author of The Age of Empathy

[patrickshark]

I really like this guy. Primatologists often fear athropamorphism. What I like about Frans is that he does the opposite. Rather than place human traights on non human primates, he places us in our correct place, the 5th great ape. Therefore rather than inferring that chimps for example may be behaving human like, he leads us to draw our own observations on how behavioural simlararities between both species are are due to them both acting ape like. For me I have no problem with that.

[purposefirst]

Frans incidently divulges a basic error underlying Conservatist ideology!

[JohannesKicken]

I am a former sociology student at the University of Nijmegen, who dropped out and became an occupational therapist. I closely observe the behavior of humans and their problem solving skills and help children and adults to lead productive lives. It always amazes me that primates have occupations, just like humans but to a different degree. It is fascinating to see how interrelated the fields of Sociology, Anthropology, psychology, primatology and occupational therapy are.

[jamesboake]

Try reading Consilience by E. O. Wilson and I think you'll agree that biology has it's place in the social sciences. There is a lot of insight to be gained by connecting the dots interdisciplinarily.

[equsnarnd]

If you meet anyone out there who claims they are using Social Darwinism to determine social policy then you have my permission to treat them like the idiots they are. But it is just as idiotic to run around with one capacity, empathy, and design social institutions based on that. Stick to biology, please. Leave philosophy and economics to people to work out without pretending to have some 'scientific' expertise. Thanks for your great work as an ethologist.

[vincentredbull]

02:08 he makes a mistake, he should say: that is what we see in animals, so also in humans.

the way he said it sounds like as if we are not animals.

hahaha i was just "ant fucking" as we call it in the netherlands.

Frans the Waal is the master!

[KenMacMillan]

Whether he realizes it or not he's offering an argument for libertarian atheism & free markets.

[KenMacMillan]

Also, I don't think he understands conservatism from an historic point of view but that's a common mistake made by 99.9 percent of people. I can't wait to read this book.

[sailkelli]

First off let me say that I'm conservative, so I was surprised when de Waal somehow lumped all conservatives as thinking that we believe that society should be based on competition! He intimates that conservatives only see humans as selfishly out for themselves without any natural concern for others. He wrongly reads our primary concern for FREEDOM to pursue our own lives, as purely capitalistic, totally ignoring the extremely compassionate element of a large base who strongly encourage charity.

[xraysixseven]

There's always this element of a free radical......

[StoneMagnet]

@sailkelli any pro-capitalist believes that society should be based on competition, and all conservatives are pro-capitalists

[theway16180]

you are amazing! thank you for speaking out, you are an inspiration to all of us.