Morality May Have Roots in Our Primate Ancestors

The UK's Daily Telegraph is carrying a story that will surely set the anti-evolution crowd to foaming at the mouth. Why so? Because it reports on a new study done at Emory University in Georgia that discovered monkeys and apes can make judgements about fairness, offer sympathy and help and remember obligations. Things heretofore often believed to be abilities reserved to humans and God endowed. Personally, I have no issue with religion and evolution existing side by side. I do not take the Bible literally and thus am not threatened by anything that contradict a literal reading of the Bible. Likewise, I am not so insecure and in need of having all the answers - putting God in a box if you will and checking off boxes on a list - that I cannot live with some uncertainty as to precisely how and why we humans came to be. Not so our Christianist enemies who I suspect will condemn the study findings since it runs counter to their simpleminded world view. Here are some highlights:

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Although morality has always been viewed as a human trait that sets us apart from the animals, it now appears our closest ancestors share the same scruples. Scientists have that discovered monkeys and apes can make judgements about fairness, offer sympathy and help and remember obligations. Researchers say the findings may demonstrate morality developed through evolution, a view that is likely to antagonise the devoutly religious, who see it as God-given.

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Professor Frans de Waal, who led the study at Emory University in Georgia, US, said: "I am not arguing that non-human primates are moral beings but there is enough evidence for the following of social rules to agree that some of the stepping stones towards human morality can be found in other animals." In tests carried out by Prof de Waal, the primates were given a set of tasks to carry out and rewarded with food and affection.

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A separate study found chimpanzees spontaneously helped both humans and each other during controlled tests. Prof De Waal suggests the traits may have developed through natural selection. Some anthropologists believe a sense of morality developed during the last ice age when humans were forced to band together to survive in an increasingly hostile environment.