A Wild Empathy

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human is surely coming into play. Many evolutionists favour chimpanzees as ancestral models. Whereas de Waal does look frequently to chimpanzees as exem- plars of primate altruism, he champions the less violent bonobo — not least because its habitat, like that of our common primate

ancestor, remains the tropical forest, whereas FIONA ROGERS/NATUREPL.COM chimpanzees and humans have evolved into ecological generalists. De Waal looks to mothering and infant care by non-kin, a basic form of empathy dis- cussed by primatologist Sarah Hrdy in Moth- ers and Others (Harvard University Press, 2011), as the foundation of human altruism and complex cooperation, and as his prime evolutionary building block for morality. He also emphasizes the importance of emotion in moral choices, citing the work of psycholo- gist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind (Allen Lane, 2012). Haidt’s empirical investigations of subjects’ disgusted reactions A baby bonobo at the Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. to incest demonstrate that when it comes to morality, raw emotions trump rationality. PRIMATOLOGY The Bonobo and the Atheist does leave a gap of sorts in explaining moral origins. In discussing his building blocks, de Waal seems relatively unconcerned with the actual A wild empathy mechanisms of natural selection that keep them in place, be this through kin selection, mutualism, reciprocal altruism, group selec- Christopher Boehm relishes a wide-ranging tion or social selection. assessment of primate morality. These theories can help to explain why nice guys don’t necessarily finish last. Group selection theory may be making a comeback, as rans de Waal’s latest book, The Bonobo though evidence of pri- seen in a 2010 paper in Nature by E. O. Wil- and the Atheist, is both an exceptionally mate precursors seems son and others; there are also social-selection good read and a tour de force of schol- less than substantial. arguments in Richard Alexander’s The Biology Farship. In it, de Waal states his argument for This does not mean of Moral Systems (Aldine Transaction, 1987), the evolution of human empathy with the that he is pro-religion, where he suggests that people’s altruistic repu- sophistication of a well-grounded, risk-taking however. The Bonobo tations may seriously enhance reproductive scientist who can venture into philosophy. and the Atheist is per- success. In my own Moral Origins (Basic De Waal draws on his own ethological meated with the ethos Books, 2013) I suggest that social selection in research with chimpanzees and bonobos, of secular humanism, the form of groups punishing moral deviants as well as on biology and evolutionary psy- using the Renaissance The Bonobo has profoundly shaped human gene pools, and the Atheist: chology, to probe empathy as a key precursor painter Hieronymus In Search of and given us a conscience — an argument de for moral behaviour. The origins of human Bosch’s The Garden of Humanism among Waal does discuss. morality are not new territory for the pri- Earthly Delights — a the Primates De Waal’s style is refined yet lively; his matologist and ethologist, who engaged vision of humanity FRANS DE WAAL humanism both highbrow and lowbrow. with the question in Peacemaking Among freed from narrow W. W. Norton: 2013. One minute he is referencing the art of Primates (Harvard University Press, 1990) moral constraints — 320 pp. $27.95, Bosch, the next comparing himself to an and who, with Jessica Flack, has examined as a touchstone for his £18.99 Australian toilet frog, showered over the the evolutionary building blocks of morality. arguments. decades by distastefully superficial socio- The novel element in The Bonobo and the In his discussion of empathy and moral- biological explanations of human altruism. Atheist is that de Waal analyses today’s moral ity, de Waal has little time for what he calls The Bonobo and the Atheist is a synthesis on landscape, in particular the schism between “veneer theories” that reduce altruism to ‘nat- all levels, masterfully marshalling ethology, militant atheism and religion. ural’ selfishness. As he shows, human altru- psychology, philosophy and anthropology De Waal views extreme strains of atheism ism has analogues in a wide range of species, in its drive to understand ourselves through as getting “all worked up about the absence even though sterile ants’ care for the offspring the lens of other primates. ■ of something”, at one point using the fanci- of their queen can hardly be labelled empathy. ful device of a talking When dolphins assist humans struggling in Christopher Boehm is professor of bonobo as his mouth- NATURE.COM the water, we may at least suggest some basic biological sciences and anthropology and piece (hence the book’s For Christian similarities. But when a chimpanzee, sharing director of the Goodall Research Center at title). His view is that Keysers on Frans more than 95% of our DNA, helps an unre- the University of Southern California, Los religion is undeniably de Waal, see: lated member of its group to lick a wound it Angeles, USA. in our bones — even go.nature.com/plb4cq cannot reach, a type of empathy very near the e-mail: [email protected]