FRANS DE WAAL is a Dutch-born biologist who lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. One of the world's best-known primatologists, de Waal is C. H. Candler professor of psychology and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. In 2007, "Time" selected him as one of the World's 100 Most Influential People.
"A pioneer in primate studies, Frans de Waal sees our better side
in chimps, especially our capacity for empathy. In his research,
Dr. de Waal has gathered ample evidence that our ability to
identify with another's distress -- a catalyst for compassion and
charity -- has deep roots in the origin of our species. It is a
view independently reinforced by recent biomedical studies showing
that our brains are built to feel another's pain."
--Robert Lee Hotz, "The Wall Street Journal"
"It's hard to feel the pain of the next guy. First, you have to
notice that he exists...then realize that he has different thoughts
than you...and different emotions...and that he needs help...and
that you should help because you'd like the same done for
you...and, wait, did I remember to lock the car?...and... Empathy
is often viewed as requiring cognitive capacities for things like
theory of mind, perspective taking and the golden rule, implying
that empathy is pretty much limited to humans, and is a fairly
fragile phenomenon in us. For decades, Frans de Waal has generated
elegant data and thinking that show that this is wrong. In this
superb book, he shows how we are not the only species with elements
of those cognitive capacities, empathy is as much about affect as
cognition, and our empathic humanity has roots far deeper than our
human-ness."
--Robert Sapolsky, author of "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" and "A
Primate's Memoir"
"The lessons of the economic meltdown, Hurricane Katrina, and other
disasters may not be what you think: Biologically, humans are not
selfish animals. For that matter, neither are animals, writes the
engaging Frans de Waal, a psychology professor with proof positive
that, like other creatures who hang out in herds, we've evolved to
be empathetic. We don't just hear a scream, it chills us to the
bone; when we see a smile, we answer with one of our own. THE AGE
OF EMPATHY offers advice to cutthroat so-called realists: Listen to
your inner ape."
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