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I call the notion that we are nothing but killer apes the Beethoven fallacy. Beethoven was disorganized and messy, and yet his music is the epitome of order.

Frans de Waal

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Frans de Waal
Age: 76
Born: 1948
Born: October 29
Ethologist
Non-Fiction Writer
Primatologist
Psychologist
University Teacher
Zoologist
Den Bosch
Frans B M de Waal
Frans B. M. de Waal
F. de Waal
Nothing
Apes
Killer
Messy
Killers
Notion
Disorganized
Call
Epitome
Order
Beethoven
Music
Fallacy

More quotes by Frans de Waal

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We would much rather blame nature for what we don't like in ourselves than credit it for what we do like.
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Future benefits rarely figure in the minds of animals.
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You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society.
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Morality, after all, has nothing to do with selflessness. On the contrary, self-interest is precisely the basis of the categorical imperative.
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Female bonobos form a strong sisterhood. They rule through female solidarity.
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The role of inequity in society is grossly underestimated. Inequity is not good for your health, basically.
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Armies are a purely human invention. Most soldiers who go to war nowadays don't even do it because they're inherently aggressive.
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Being both more systematically brutal than chimps and more empathetic than bonobos, we are by far the most bipolar ape. Our societies are never completely peaceful, never completely competitive, never ruled by sheer selfishness, and never perfectly moral.
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The more self-aware an animal is, the more empathetic it tends to be.
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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.
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To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental, about both animals and us.
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Male bonobos really don't fit the human male ideal.
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There's actually a lot of evidence in primates and other animals that they return favors.
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The primate laugh is given in playful contexts, and as such has a strong similarity to the human laugh.
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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.
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Dogmatists have one advantage: they are poor listeners.
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The chimpanzees could tear me apart in no time. They're many times stronger than we are.
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The enemy of science is not religion... . The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma.
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We, who think like animals living in small groups, must structure a global world. We believe in universal human rights and believe racism and war are wrong. On the other hand, it is our nature to be cooperative and loving almost exclusively with the members of the group to which we feel we belong.
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I think we need to start thinking about grounding our moral systems in our biology.
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