What can Bonobo apes teach us about human empathy and hierarchy

BY Rob Lorei

Today on Midpoint we speak with Dr. Frans de Waal, one of the world’s top primatologist and author of  The Bonobo and the Atheist:In Search of Humanism Among the Primates, which explores the primate origin of morality and empathy in humans. Today he talks about how understanding primate behavior and social organization gives us insight into why we empathize, cooperate, and organize ourselves the way that we do. He also gives insights into how ape research can show how politicians fare in communicating authority and persuasiveness. De Waal will be speaking at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Clearwater This Saturday at 1 pm.