I think we need to start thinking about grounding our moral systems in our biology.

The more self-aware an animal is, the more empathetic it tends to be.

The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone comparing politicians with those poor, underestimated creatures.

Wild groups of chimpanzees attack their enemies like gangs. What they completely lack, precisely because of their strong territorial behavior, is a friendly relationship with their neighbors.

We are by far the most contradictory of all primates. An animal with this much internal conflict has never lived on this earth.

If I were God, I'd work on the reach of empathy.

I have often noticed how primate groups in their entirety enter a similar mood. All of a sudden, all of them are playful, hopping around. Or all of them are grumpy. Or all of them are sleepy and settle down. In such cases, the mood contagion serves the function of synchronizing activities.