[...]... the backbone of macaque society, the matrilineal hierarchy (female kin are closely bonded and united in their battles with nonkin, the result being a social order based on matrilineal descent) One piece of the troop consisted of a few dominant matriarchs and their families; the other included subordinate matriarchs and their families Being of low rank, Mozu and her offspring ended up in the second division... remains selfish By denying the existence of genuine kindness, however, these theories miss out on the greater truth emerging from a juxtaposition of genetic self-interest and the intense sociality and conviviality of many animals, including ourselves Instead of human nature's being either fundamentally brutish or fundamentally noble, it is both—a more complex picture perhaps, but an infinitely more inspiring... the base of the tree, peering upward to collect behavioral information along with the inevitable bat droppings Having tagged his subjects with reflective bands in order to recognize them in the dark, Gerald Wilkinson noticed that mother bats often regurgitate blood to their offspring While this is not too surprising, the investigator saw other combinations share on twenty-one occasions—mostly individuals... that humans and other animals are entirely selfish From this standpoint, the only difference between Mai and Georgia is in the way they pursue self-interest; whereas Georgia is just plain greedy, Mai shares food so as to make friends or receive return favors in the future Both think only of themselves In human terms, this interpretation amounts to the claim that Mother Teresa follows the same basic instinct... grooming Mozu is now well integrated into the dominant troop, once again enjoying the feeding site, yet having paid for this advantage with permanent separation from her kin 8 DARWINIAN DILEMMAS In no society worthy of the name do the members lack a sense of belonging and a need for acceptance The ability and the tendency to construct such associations, and to seek security within them, are products of. .. "merely the working-out of a law of nature and a law of G o d " 8 Given the popular use and abuse of evolutionary theory (comparing Wall Street to a Darwinian jungle, for example), it is not surprising that in the minds of many people natural selection has become synonymous with open, unrestricted competition How could such a harsh principle ever explain the concern for others and the benevo- DARWINIAN... that Kropotkin was in excellent company in his belief that the success of the group matters: Darwin himself leaned toward group selection when tackling the issue of morality He literally saw one tribe gain advantage over another: 22 At all times throughout the world tribes have supplanted other tribes; and as morality is one element in their success, the standard of morality and the number of well-endowed... say, empathy and sympathy are pillars of human morality A Broader View A climbing orangutan grasps a branch with one hand, holding on tightly until the other hand has found the next branch Then the roles are reversed, and the first hand releases its grip in order to get hold of another branch Elias Canetti, in Crowds and Power, noticed a connection between the ancient arboreal function of one of our most... sequence in the right order or with the right timing may have fatal consequences in the trees in the same way that it may leave the human trader empty-handed Material exchange has become second nature to us; most of the time we reflect as little on the risks as does a monkey racing through the canopy Canetti's is a fascinating parallel, yet there exists of course no causal connection Otherwise the octopus... free-market economies can be beaten at their own game by guided economies such as that of the Japanese In biology, the very same principle of natural selection that mercilessly plays off life forms and individuals against one another has led to symbiosis and mutualism among different organisms, to sensitivity of one individual to the needs of another, and to joint action toward a common goal We are facing . h0" alt="" GOOD NATURED The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals Frans de Waal Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts • London, England Copyright © 1996 by Frans. troop consisted of a few dominant matri- archs and their families; the other included subordinate matriarchs and their families. Being of low rank, Mozu and her offspring ended up in the second. always remains selfish. By denying the existence of genuine kindness, however, these theories miss out on the greater truth emerging from a juxtaposition of genetic self-interest and the intense