Sir Douglas Robb Lecture: Our inner ape - Morality: A Darwinian view of the moral emotions in man and animals 
(Lectures)
24 March 2009
7.00pm
Venue: Fisher & Paykel Appliances Auditorium, Owen G Glenn Building, 12 Grafton Road.
SIR DOUGLAS ROBB LECTURES 2009
Dr Frans B. M. de Waal is a Dutch-born ethologist/biologist known for his work on the social intelligence of primates. His first book, Chimpanzee Politics (1982) compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees involved in power struggles with that of human politicians. Ever since, Dr de Waal has drawn parallels between primate and human behavior, from peacemaking and morality to culture. His scientific work has been published in hundreds of technical articles in journals such as Science, Nature, Scientific American, and outlets specialised in animal behaviour. De Waal is also editor or co-editor on nine scientific volumes. His popular books - translated into 15 languages - have made him one of the world's most visible primatologists. His latest books are Our Inner Ape (2005, Riverhead) and Primates & Philosophers (2006, Princeton).
He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (US), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. Time magazine selected him in 2007 as one of the world’s 100 most influential people today.
His Robb series theme is associated with 2009 being the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th of the publication of his On the Origin of Species.
See www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/
24 March - First Robb Lecture - Our inner ape - Morality: A Darwinian view of the moral emotions in man and animals.
Homo homini lupus - "man is wolf to man" - is an old Roman proverb popularised by Thomas Hobbes. Even though it permeates large parts of law, economics, and political science, the proverb fails to do justice to our species’ thoroughly social nature as well as to canids, which are among the most gregarious and cooperative animals. For the past quarter century, this cynical view has also been promoted by an influential school of biology, followers of Thomas Henry Huxley, which holds that we are born nasty and selfish. Accordingly, it is only with the greatest possible effort that we can hope to become moral beings. Charles Darwin, however, saw things differently: he believed in continuity between animals’ social instincts and human morality. He wrote an entire book about The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Modern psychology and neuroscience support Darwin’s view about the moral emotions. Human moral decisions often stem from "gut" reactions, some of which we share with other animals. I will elaborate on the connection between morality and primate behaviour. Other primates show signs of empathy (see Lecture 2), reciprocity, and a sense of fairness that promote a mutually satisfactory modus vivendi. I will review evidence for continuity to support the view that the building blocks of morality are older than humanity.
Readings: de Waal, Frans (2006). Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. Princeton University Press.
26 March - Second Robb Lecture - Our inner ape - Empathy: On the possibility of animal empathy.
The possibility that animals have empathy and sympathy has received little systematic attention due to an excessive fear of anthropomorphism and the Behaviourist taboo on animal emotions. Actual animal behaviour, however, would lead one to agree with Charles Darwin that "Many animals certainly sympathize with each other's distress or danger." In my own work with monkeys and apes, 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. In fact, the entire communication system of nonhuman primates seems emotionally mediated. In this presentation I will review expressions of empathy in animals, especially nonhuman primates, and present a "Russian doll" model of how animals perceive others. It ranges from a core mechanism of emotional linkage arising from a direct mapping of another's behavioural state onto the subject's representations. This Perception-Action Model provides the basis for higher levels in which there is an increasing distinction between self and other, so that the other is recognized as the source of felt emotions. This permits responses to be geared specifically to the other's situation, thus increasing the effectiveness of sympathetic support, care, and reassurance, as observed in dolphins, apes, and elephants. The connection between perspective-taking and mirror self-recognition (MSR) will be elaborated upon, including our recent demonstration that Asian elephants recognize themselves in a mirror.
Readings: Preston, S. D., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2002). Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. Behavioral & Brain Sciences 25: 1-72.
31 March - Final Robb Lecture - Our inner ape - Culture: A social, political and cultural brain: What primates know about and learn from each other.
Primates live in complex societies in which they compete, try to become dominant, but also help friends and kin. At Living Links we test the knowledge of monkeys and apes about each other, including the power relations among primates, described first in my book Chimpanzee Politics (1982). Several recent experiments will be discussed, such as a) the role of policing by high-ranking "peacekeepers" and how their behaviour stabilizes society, b) how primates distinguish gender - do they have a gender "construct" in that they find it easier to determine the gender of familiar individuals, c) how do chimpanzees and bonobos complement "regular" primate communication (facial expressions and vocalizations) with hand gestures and does this bear on language evolution, d) what do primates learn from each other - do they have cultural capacities in that they adopt behaviour shown by others in their group? It is known from the wild that many animals, especially our closest relatives, show cultural variation. That is, their behaviour differs from group to group based on the transmission of knowledge, skills, or habits. We now speak of the up and coming field of "cultural primatology."
Readings: de Waal, Frans (2001). The Ape and the Sushi Master. New York: BasicBooks.
Whiten, A., Horner, V., de Waal, F. B. M. (2005). Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees. Nature 437: 737-740.
Full list of Robb Lecturers
1968 Professor John Kenneth GALBRAITH, Harvard University.
1970 The Hon. Sir Steven RUNCIMAN, eminent historian of the Byzantine empire and church: The eastern churches and the secular state.
1972 Professor W.D. BORRIE, Professor of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra: Population, environment and society.
1973 Sir Macfarlane BURNET, Professor of Experimental Medicine at University of Melbourne; winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine: The biology of aging.
1974 Dr W.H. PICKERING, Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology: Exploring our solar system.
1975 Professor W.J.M. MacKENZIE, Edward Carol Professor, Department of Politics, University of Glasgow: Political adaptivity.
1976 Professor J.R. BROWN, Professor of English, University of Sussex: Theatre for today.
1978 Dr Ivan ILLICH, Philosopher, educationalist and social critic: The art of suffering.
1979 Professor R.P. FEYNMAN, Nobel Laureate and Professor of Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology: The behaviour of light and electrons.
1980 Professor F.H. HINSLEY, Professor of history and International Relations, University of Cambridge: The rise and fall of the modern international system
1981 Richard LEAKEY, Director, National Museum of Kenya: Human origins.
1982 Professor Bernard LEWIS, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University: The historical roots of the Islamic revolution.
1983 Dr Carleton GAJDUSEK, National Institutes of Health, USA: Man in isolation.
1984 Professor Ngugi Wa THIONG’O, African novelist, playwright and social critic. Chairman, Department of Literature, University of Nairobi (in exile in Britain): The politics of language in African literature.
1985 Professor Sir Hermann BONDI, Master of Churchill College, University of Cambridge: The world of physics.
1986 Professor Stephen Jay GOULD, Professor of Geology, Harvard University: Charles Darwin and the science of history.
1987 Professor Laura NADER, Professor of Anthropology, University of California: Controlling processes.
1988 Professor E.P. THOMPSON, British social historian: Customs in common: Popular culture, some usages and customs of the people in England in the 18th and 19th centuries.
1989 Professor W.J.F. JENNER, Professor of Chinese, China Centre, The Australian National University: The tyranny of history: Four reflections on the power of China’s pasts.
1990 Professor Ian BROWNLIE, Chichele Professor of International Law, University of Oxford: Treaties and indigenous peoples.
1991 Professor Colin BLAKEMORE, Waynflete Professor of Physiology, University of Oxford: Images in the brain.
1992 Professor Marshall SAHLINS, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago: The anthropology of history in Polynesia.
1993 Professor Carole PATEMAN, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles: Women and democracy.
1994 Professor Lewis WOLPERT, Professor of Biology as Applied to Medicine, University College, London: The unnatural nature of science.
1996 Dr Bernice Johnson REAGON, Distinguished Professor of History, American University, Washington: The place of song in African American history.
1997: Professor Immanuel WALLERSTEIN, Binghampton University, State University of New York: Utopistics, or historical choices of the 21st century.
1998: Professor Paul KRUGMAN, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: What happened to Asia?
1999: Judy CHICAGO, artist, author, feminist, intellectual, New Mexico: Women and art.
2000: Professor Steven WEINBERG, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin: Physics, cosmology and God (lectures cancelled on account of family illness).
2001: Professor Steven PINKER, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Language, mind, and evolution.
2002: Professor David BARKER FRS, Director, Medical Research Council Environmental Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton School of Medicine: Mothers, babies and health in later life.
2003: Professor Bryan SYKES, Cellular Genetics Group, Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford: The interpretation of genes.
2004: Marina WARNER, historian, novelist, literary critic: Magic and transformation in contemporary literature and culture. Full texts online at www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/for/alumni/news/archive/marina-warner-robb-lectures.cfm
2005 Professor Carl WIEMAN, Nobel Laureate and Distinguished Professor of Physics at University of Colorado: Two breakthroughs in physics research: New forms of matter at ultracold temperatures, and engaged students with deep understanding.
2006 Professor Jared DIAMOND, author, physiologist, evolutionary biologist, biogeographer; Professor of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles: Science, history and human societies.
2007 Professor Yash GHAI, renowned scholar in constitutional law, Sir YK Pao Professor in Public Law at University of Hong Kong, 1989-2005: Organisation of the state in multi-ethnic societies.
2008 Professor Sheldon ROTHBLATT, Emeritus Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley: "The uses of the university" revisited. Full texts online at www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/about/events/2008/03/lectures/s.rothblatt-robb.cfm
2009 Dr Frans B.M. de Waal, C. H. Candler Professor, Psychology Department, Emory University. Director, Living Links Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, USA: Our inner ape.
