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I think if we study the primates, we notice that a lot of these things that we value in ourselves, such as human morality, have a connection with primate behavior.

— Frans de Waal The Bonobo in All of Us (2007)

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More quotes by Frans de Waal

I've argued that many of what philosophers call moral sentiments can be seen in other species.

They give up trusting others, and conversely others give up trusting them.

Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are (2005)

To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental, about both animals and us.

The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone comparing politicians with those poor, underestimated creatures.

Don’t believe anyone who says that since nature is based on a struggle for life, we need to live like this as well. Many animals survive not by eliminating each other or by keeping everything for themselves, but by cooperating and sharing.

The Age of Empathy (2009)

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