Frans B.M. de Waal (born 1948, the Netherlands) was trained as a zoologist and ethologist in the European tradition at three Dutch universities (Nijmegen, Groningen, Utrecht), resulting in a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Utrecht, in 1977. His dissertation research concerned aggressive behavior and alliance formation in macaques. In 1975, a six-year project was initiated on the world’s largest captive colony of chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo. Apart from a large number of scientific papers, this work found its way to the general public with Chimpanzee Politics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982). In 1981, Dr. de Waal accepted a research position at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. There he began both observational and experimental studies of reconciliation behavior in monkeys. He received the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Peacemaking among Primates (Harvard University Press, 1989) a popularized account of fifteen years of research on conflict resolution in nonhuman primates. Since the mid-1980s, Dr. de Waal also worked on chimpanzees at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center and their close relatives, bonobos, at the San Diego Zoo. In 1991, Dr. de Waal accepted a joint position in the Psychology Department of Emory University and at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, both in Atlanta. His current interests include food-sharing, social reciprocity, and conflict resolution in primates as well as the origins of morality and justice in human society. His most recent books discuss the evolutionary origin of human morality, and the implications of what we know about bonobos for models of human social evolution: Good Natured (Harvard University Press, 1996) and Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape (University of California Press, 1997). The research of Dr. de Waal is funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health, the John Templeton Foundation, the H.F. Guggenheim Foundation, and other sources.

The possibility that animals have empathy and sympathy has thus far received little attention due to two major factors. One is that several prominent evolutionary biologists have opted to follow T. H. Huxley’s dualism. Huxley pushed morality outside the evolutionary realm: his “nature red in tooth and claw” view had no place for kindness. Kindness could come into being only secondarily, as a cultural innovation of the human species. Darwin himself had a much more balanced view, and was familiar with moral philosophers such as Adam Smith and David Hume. The second hampering influence has been an excessive fear of anthropomorphism leading to ignorance of the possibility of feelings and thoughts in animals.

Both of these influences are entirely on the theoretical level, that is, they have little to do with the presence or absence of observed instances. In my own work with nonhuman primates, I have found many cases of one individual coming to another’s rescue in a fight, putting an arm around a previous victim of attack, or other emotional responses to the distress of others. The entire communication system of nonhuman primates seems emotionally mediated: we are familiar with the prominent role of emotions in human facial expressions, but when it comes to apes - which have a similar range of expressions - emotions remain a taboo topic.

In this presentation I will review evidence for empathy and sympathy in nonhuman primates, present data on consolation behavior, discuss the meaning of facial communication, and explore the relation to theory-of-mind and self-awareness research, and ultimately the implications for both the development and evolution of human morality.