Frans de Waal and morality

"If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." Groucho Marx

I recently had the chance to listen to Frans de Waal talk about morality, reciprocity and empathy.

Frans de Waal is a worldwide leading primatologist now at Emory University, and has written a whole host of books about primates, morality and, in particular, the empathetic concept. He doesn't consider the question of God interesting, and his worldview is materialistic.

The talk can be viewed here: http://www.veritas.org/Talks.aspx#!/v/1317

His co-presenter is Jeffrey Schloss, a well-known Christian apologist who was born and raised an Atheist. He is a Biologist at Westmont College -- and also a really smart guy. The only problem with the talks is you cannot see the slides well, so when they are showing videos we don't have good access. The nice things about talks, however, is they sum up the latest research often, and, best of all, are usually free.

While the data is still largely coming in, empathy and reciprocity can surely find some roots in the animal kingdom.  For Theists, this should not come as any surprise, particularly those familiar with some of the Creation stories throughout the Old Testament.

I also like what de Waal says about human emotion. I think if I didn't believe in a benevolent Creator, I would think that without an anchor of a good Creator, one should provoke that we are slaves of our emotions and not of logic. Emotions must trump logic in an atheist worldview, I believe.  Frans de Waal certainly does not say this and I would imagine he would not believe this, but I think he would find himself in a conundrum to argue the other way around. Of course, for the Theist, logic can of course trump all other behavior, as it is rooted in a logical entity; we can override our impulses and emotions if, for instance, we want to serve God and love others instead of ourselves and our naturalistic impulses. This is our choice, so at least the Theist believes.

Humans attach moral salience with a ton of things that have reproduction and fitness benefit. Clearly, there is a connection. However, this supports a top-to-bottom worldview as much, and I would argue, much more, than a bottom-up worldview.

And then there is the ministry of Jesus. Biologists tend to think, while they disagree on how precisely morality, and why it evolved, and even if it is at all a product or by-product of evolution,  that morality is some sort of cognitive innovation. That should be interesting for Theists and Christians in particular.

Enter Jesus of Nazareth into the human sphere. The Sermon of the Mount. Matthew 5. Healing the soldier's ear after Peter struck him. "Please forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."

Jesus' entire ministry served to override man's religion and his non-religion, at the same time. If Jesus was God and a biologist (though I know several biologists that think they are God, this should not be confused), I envision Him saying something along these lines: "Your brain has now evolved to be able to reason and be logical. It took some time, but here you are. You have a tremendous amount of selfish tendencies, which govern your overall will to live and survive. Indeed, you share the same essence with all animals and bacteria to survive and reproduce. You can follow your Darwinian roots, or you can rebel, and be a revolutionist and join me. For those that came before me, and will never hear my message, you still hear the message inside your hearts -- it is your conscience and My image.  Go now, because it is your choice. You now have evolved to have cognitive innovation. Use it forever -- or lose it forever".

At any rate, I recommend Frans de Waal. Unlike his old colleague, Marc Hauser, his field data seems wholly legit, and though Christian biologists and non-biologists won't agree with some of his conclusions, he is a smart guy that is worthy to listen to.