A wild empathy

摘要

Frans de Waal's latest book, The Bonobo and the Atheist, is both an exceptionally good read and a tour de force of scholarship. In it, de Waal states his argument for the evolution of human empathy with the sophistication of a well-grounded, risk-taking scientist who can venture into philosophy. De Waal draws on his own ethological research with chimpanzees and bonobos, as well as on biology and evolutionary psychology, to probe empathy as a key precursor for moral behaviour.