Primati e filosofi

This is a University Press collection of essays. The topic is "How did morality evolve, and are humans the only species who possess morality?". The first essay is written by Frans de Waal and states his views on the topic and on the place of anthropomorphism in scientific approach to the related res Leggi tutto

De Waal sets up his ethical argument by describing what he calls veneer theory: humans are basically bad (self-oriented), and civilized behavior is superficial and fragile. De Waal’s theory in contrast is that we are by nature good. Drawing from his work with primates, he anchors moral behavior in o Leggi tutto

From a blog I wrote early on in my reading of this book (I'll be writing more about the rest later on): "Climbed to the Highest Point on the Tree and the Empathy Therein" I'm reading a book right now that's quite impressive called Primates & Philosophers by the primatologist Frans de Waal which is mo Leggi tutto

Richard Dawkins and others have fallen into the trap that somehow Biological Evolution leads to Social Darwinism. In the same vein, these biologists claim that morality is a construct unique to humans and we use it to counter our selfish animal tendencies. Animals less sophisticated than humans alle Leggi tutto

Thought provoker, but then de Waal tends to do that. I finished this a couple of days ago and still don't know if I can do this review justice, but... The basis of this is his criticism (and dismissal) of the Hobbesian view that morality is a layer (a veneer ) overlaying the baser, brutish animal tha Leggi tutto

Primatologists & Evolutionary Biologists 1 - 0 Utilitarians & Deontologists

I consider this book more appropriate for scholars than the lay person. I just finished reading a book about the same subject: The Quest of a Moral Compass by Keenan Malik, and the author does not mention primates nor any other animal, his quest took a different path altogether, he looked in the Bib Leggi tutto

Κουβαλώντας την άχαρη φύση κάθε βιβλίου που έχει προκύψει από κείμενα διαλέξεων, το "πρωτεύοντα και φιλόσοφοι" πραγματεύεται την ύπαρξη ριζών ηθικής στα πρωτεύοντα από τα οποία και τις κληρονομήσαμε. Δυστυχώς, όπως προείπα, είναι κείμενα διαλέξεων και παρά το γεγονός ότι το μισό βιβλίο είναι κριτικέ Leggi tutto

Primates and Philosophers is offering us to analyse the origins of morality, but focuses on one of the subject: whether human morality goes deep into our evolutionary past or is new with the arrival of our evolving brains and cultures. The answer depends on how morality is defined.

de Waal and other philosophers arguing over how morality in humans evolved, but the human monkeys mostly split philosophical hairs while agreeing in generalities. Great stuff if you are a primate that digs that kind of discussion.