Frans de Waal's The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons For A Kinder Society Harmony Books, 2009, 291 S.
The next time you find yourself in a contentious conversation with someone arguing that humans are inherently selfish, embrace killing and war, and (mis) using terms like “Social Darwinism,” give them a copy of Frans de Waal’s latest book, The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons For A Kinder Society. Only continue the discussion after they’ve read it.
Den Auteur ass Psychologie Professer an Direkter vum Living Links Center am Yerkes National Primate Research Center op der Emory University. Seng fréier Bicher enthalen Our Inner Ape (2005) a Primates and Philosophers (2006).
A world renowned primatologist, de Waal provides compelling support for the proposition that humans are “preprogrammed to reach out.” From dolphins ferrying injured companions to safety and grieving elephants, baboons and cats (yes, even cats) to commiserating mice and hydrophobic chimps risking death to save a drowning companion, this is a major contribution to understanding the biological genesis of our inborn capacity for empathy, hence morality.
Ee vun de Verdéngschter vun dësem Buch ass seng glat Synthese vun Anekdoten aus dem Auteur seng Joerzéngte laang Observatioun vum Primatverhalen an iwwerzeegend Beweiser aus der séier erweiderter wëssenschaftlecher Literatur iwwer dëst Thema. An ech wier net iwwerrascht, wann dem de Waal seng Geschichten e puer erliewend Laachen vun der Unerkennung opfuerderen, wéi de Lieser sech mat enger gemeinsamer Virfahren a sengen zäitgenësseschen Nokommen erëm verbënnt.
This work complements recent research from neuroscience (see Marco Iacaboni’s Mirroring People, 2008) and the subfields of neuroanthropology, cultural neuroscience, neuropolitics and others. Taken as a whole it’s a potent mix and provides a convincing corrective to prevailing notions about human nature. For de Waal, as for many students of this subject, the question is no longer whether animals have empathy “but how it works…My suspicion is that it works exactly the same way in humans and other animals, even though humans may add a few complexities.’
De Waal is painfully aware that biology has been routinely and willfully misinterpreted “to justify a society based on selfish principles” and he sets out to correct this one-sided and erroneous portrayal by examining the lengthy evolutionary record. This, by the way, is the other meaning of age in the book’s title.
In seven crisply written and wholly accessible chapters de Waal methodically demolishes the rationale behind Gordon Gekko’s admonition in the film Wall Street that greed “captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.”
De Waal seet et esou:
Wat mir brauchen ass eng komplett Reform vun Viraussetzungen iwwer mënschlech Natur. Ze vill Economisten a Politiker modelléieren d'Gesellschaft op den éiwege Kampf, deen se gleewen, datt et an der Natur existéiert, awer wat nëmmen eng Projektioun ass. Wéi Zauberer geheien si fir d'éischt hir ideologesch Viruerteeler an den Hutt vun der Natur, zéien se dann un d'Oueren eraus fir ze weisen, wéi vill d'Natur mat hinnen d'accord ass. Et ass en Trick fir dee mir ze laang gefall sinn.
De Waal is to be commended for introducing political questions into his analysis and “If this means wading right into political controversy, so be it.” However, this is precisely where I began to encounter some problems.
Namely, how does de Waal explain what I¹ve characterized elsewhere as a culturally-induced empathy deficit disorder, a condition bordering on the pathological and having its roots in our socioeconomic system? In a 2007 interview, not included in this book, de Waal said, “You need to indoctrinate empathy out of people in order to arrive at extreme capitalist positions.” Unless I’ve totally misread him, the operative word there is extreme as there’s nothing in de Waal’s public writings, inteviews, or lectures to indicate that he’s personally opposed to capitalism, people getting rich, and so forth. De Waal objects to an unrestrained market system, not capitalism itself. He prefers that the economic system be mitigated by more attention to empathy in order to soften its rough edges.
At one point he proclaims his sympathy for American conservatives “who detest entitlement” while going on to assert that “The state is not a teat from which one can squeeze milk from any time of the day, yet that’s how many Europeans seem to look at it.” As a Dutch immigrant, de Waal arrived in the United States with the following mindset: “But I also noticed that someone who applies him-or herself, as I surely intended to do, can go very far. Nothing stands in their way.”
He follows this by a comparison with European welfare states and concludes, “Having lived for so long in the United States I find it hard to say which system I prefer. I see the pros and cons of both.’ But de Waal can also write sentences such as:
Leit ouni Barmhäerzegkeet oder Moral sinn iwwerall ronderëm eis, dacks a prominent Positiounen. Dës Schlaangen a Kostümer, wéi ee Buchtitel se etikettéiert, kënnen e klenge Prozentsaz vun der Bevëlkerung representéieren, awer si fléien an engem wirtschaftleche System deen Ruthlessness belount.
Eng Gesellschaft, déi reng op egoïstesch Motiver a Maartkräfte baséiert, ka Räichtum produzéieren, awer et kann net d'Eenheet an d'géigesäitege Vertrauen produzéieren, déi d'Liewen derwäert mécht.
... Vertrauen op Gier als d'dreiwend Kraaft vun der Gesellschaft ass gebonnen hir ganz Stoff ze ënnergruewen.
Trotzdem ënnerschätzt de Waal bestëmmte kapitalistesch Imperativen an d'Roll vun den Eliten bei der Kultivatioun vun der Callousness eescht, an doduerch d'sozial Solidaritéit, d'Géigesäitegkeet an d'Empathie ënnergruewen. Kapitalistesch Kultur devaluéiert eng empathesch Dispositioun a wéi den Erich Fromm viru e puer fofzeg Joer argumentéiert huet, gëtt et eng Basisinkompatibilitéit tëscht den Basisprinzipien vum Kapitalismus an dem geliewten Ausdrock vun engem Ethos vun Empathie.
Wéi den Antonio Gramsci insistéiert, ass d'Kultur onloschterlech a Klass, Muecht an Ongläichheet gebonnen. Konsensuell Kontroll gëtt duerch Massemedien, Educatioun, Relioun, populär Kultur an aner Facette vun der Zivilgesellschaft am Konzert mam Staat realiséiert.
In sum, one need not accept de Waal’s sometimes ambivalent attitude toward the market, his warm words for so-called “economic freedom” and “incentive structures,” his gloss on a presumed U.S. merit-based system or his sanguine view of Obama’s potential to usher in a new era of cooperation, in order to appreciate the book’s major contributions.
Ouni Fro, dem de Waal seng wesentlech Erkenntnisser sollten Deel vum Mainstream Gespréich ginn. Mä mir musse méi wäit goen andeems se mat enger radikaler politescher Analyse bäitrieden, eng déi d'kulturell Mechanismen ausdréckt, déi zu enger Empathiemangel Gesellschaft entstoen. Nëmmen da kënne mir d'Kontinuitéit vun der Moral erëmfannen, déi esou eloquent aus dëse Säiten erauskënnt.
As with de Waal’s previous prolific output, this book can contribute to delegitimizing a central system-maintenance ideological tenant of U.S. civil society, namely the “common sense” narrative of hyper-individualism with all its insidious consequences.
Gary Olson, Ph.D., presidéiert de Politesch Wëssenschaftsdepartement um Moravian College zu Bethlehem, PA. Fir déi lescht Joren huet hien iwwer d'Neuropolitik vun der Empathie geschriwwen.
ZNetwork gëtt eleng duerch d'Generositéit vu senge Lieser finanzéiert.
Spendenaktioun