Our brains have been designed to blur the line between self and other. It is an ancient neural circuitry that marks every mammal, from mouse to elephant.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the interconnectedness of all living beings, emphasizing that our brains are wired to recognize and relate to others.
Frans De Waal's quote reflects on the evolutionary design of the mammalian brain, suggesting that all mammals share a common neural architecture that fosters empathy and social connection. This ancient circuitry blurs the boundaries between self and other, allowing creatures from the smallest mouse to the largest elephant to forge deep social bonds and emotional connections, thereby promoting cooperation and understanding within species.
In practice
In a discussion about species conservation, this quote can highlight the empathy shared among all mammals.
As in a Russian doll, however, the outer layers always contain an inner core. Instead of evolution having replaced simpler forms of empathy with more advanced ones, the latter are merely elaborations on the former and remain dependent on them. This also means that empathy comes naturally to us. It is not something we only learn later in life, or that is culturally constructed.
Sometimes I read about someone saying with great authority that animals have no intentions and no feelings, and I wonder, 'Doesn't this guy have a dog?'
Experiments with animals have long been handicapped by our anthropocentric attitude: We often test them in ways that work fine with humans but not so well with other species.
Being both more systematically brutal than chimps and more empathetic than _x000D_ 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.
If you look at human society, it is very easy, of course, to compare our warfare and territoriality with the chimpanzee. But that's only one side of what we do. We also trade, we intermarry, we allow each other to travel through our territory. There's an enormous amount of cooperation.
Human morality is unthinkable without empathy.
It is very hard to say the exact truth, even about your own immediate feelings β much harder than to say something fine about them which is not the exact truth.
Fame is damaging when people become reliant on it for their sense of self, and their identity, when fame is linked to how you see yourself.
Still may syllables jar with time,_x000D_ _x000D_ Still may reason war with rhyme,_x000D_ _x000D_ Resting never!
Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.
We imagine that we want to escape our selfish and commonplace existence, but we cling desperately to our chains.
Apathy is a rational reaction to a system that no longer represents, hears or addresses the vast majority of people.
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