Frans de Waal Quotes - Page 4

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• Unlike the primate hand, the elephant's grasping organ is also its nose. Elephants use their trunks not only to reach food but also to sniff and touch it. With their unparalleled sense of smell, the animals know exactly what they are going for. Vision is secondary.

  Frans de Waal

  Animal, Hands, Elephants

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• The primate laugh is given in playful contexts, and as such has a strong similarity to the human laugh.

  Frans de Waal

  Strong, Laughing, Primates

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• Personally, I think it is possible to build a society that is moral on a nonreligious basis, but the jury is still out on that.

  Frans de Waal

  Thinking, Moral, Bases

  "He studies where morals come from". Interview with Kelly Murray, www.cnn.com. May 16, 2013.

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• Male chimpanzees have an extraordinarily strong drive for dominance. They're constantly jockeying for position.

  Frans de Waal

  Strong, Males, Dominance

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• If you look at national economies today, for example, the American economy, the European economy, the Indians, the Chinese, we're all tied together. If one of them sinks, the rest are going to sink with them and if one floats, the rest are lifted up. I find that very interesting.

  Frans de Waal

  Economy Today, Interesting, Chinese

  "Frans de Waal on Politics, Fairness, and Human Nature". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 14, 2011.

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• Male bonobos really don't fit the human male ideal.

  Frans de Waal

  Males, Fit, Bonobos

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• I'm personally a nonbeliever, so I'm struggling with if we really need religion.

  Frans de Waal

  Struggle, Needs, Ifs

  "He studies where morals come from". Interview with Kelly Murray, www.cnn.com. May 16, 2013.

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• Humans have a lot of pro-social tendencies.

  Frans de Waal

  Social, Tendencies, Humans

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• Exclusive homosexuality is not very common in nature.

  Frans de Waal

  Common, Homosexuality, Exclusive

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• Popular culture bombards us with examples of animals being humanized for all sorts of purposes, ranging from education to entertainment to satire to propaganda. Walt Disney, for example, made us forget that Mickey is a mouse, and Donald a duck. George Orwell laid a cover of human societal ills over a population of livestock.

  Frans de Waal

  Animal, Ducks, Example

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• Religions have a strong binding function and a cohesive element. They emphasize the primacy of the community as opposed to the individual, and they also help set one community apart from another that doesn't share their beliefs.

  Frans de Waal

  Strong, Community, Atheism

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• I was raised Catholic. Not just a little bit Catholic, like my wife, Catherine. When she was young, many Catholics in France already barely went to church, except for the big three: baptism, marriage, and funeral. And only the middle one was by choice.

  Frans de Waal

  Wife, Choices, Funeral

  Frans de Waal (2013). “The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates”, p.67, W. W. Norton & Company

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• After World War II it was decided that, in order to prevent the Germans and the French from having another war, it would be better to tie them together into one economic pact so they would invest in each other and have mutual stakes. Until now, that has worked to prevent warfare between the two.

  Frans de Waal

  War, Order, Two

  "Frans de Waal on Politics, Fairness, and Human Nature". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 14, 2011.

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• In humans, the family prevents infanticide. Next to language, the core family, consisting of a mother, a father and children, is the greatest difference between us and other primates.

  Frans de Waal

  Mother, Children, Father

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• The development of family entities enables men to cooperate far more effectively. Instead of constantly competing for the women with other men, each man essentially has a partner assigned to him, one with whom he can establish a family.

  Frans de Waal

  Men, Partners, Entity

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• When someone brutally kills someone else, we call him "animalistic." But we consider ourselves "human" when we give to the poor.

  Frans de Waal

  Giving, Poor, Animalistic

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• As far as the environment is concerned, I am becoming pessimistic because I do not see anybody stepping up and taking the long view approach. It seems like we're stuck in a tragedy of the commons where everyone is trying to contribute as little as possible to get out of this situation.

  Frans de Waal

  Views, Long, Trying

  "Frans de Waal on Political Apes, Science Communication, and Building a Cooperative Society". Interview with Eric Michael Johnson, blogs.scientificamerican.com. July 11, 2011.

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• We justify the inequalities by saying some people are just better and smarter than others and the strong should survive and the poor can die off.

  Frans de Waal

  Strong, People, Poor

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• The chimpanzees could tear me apart in no time. They're many times stronger than we are.

  Frans de Waal

  Tears, Stronger, Chimpanzees

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Wild groups of chimpanzees attack their enemies like gangs. What they completely lack, precisely because of their strong territorial behavior, is a friendly relationship with their neighbors.

  Frans de Waal

  Strong, Enemy, Friendly

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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