The Moral Lives of Animals Dale Peterson

The Moral Lives of Animals Dale Peterson

This is an excellent and thought provoking book.  Do animals have morals?  Dale investigates primates and elephants most of all, but goes in to many others.  Of course humans want to deny them emotions, even the ability to feel pain, but that is to justify the way we treat them.  It is a fascinating look at animals and their lives – there are many stories I have never heard.

It is interesting to see that he uses two literary references in addition to all the research - the bible and Moby Dick.  I have never seen the background story in Moby Dick that Dale brings out, but it is very effective.  So is his use of the bible which is such an authority to so many.

But the disturbing thing might be at the end when we look at the morality of human treatment of animals.  He does not say it, but you might ask whether humans possess morals like the rest of the animals do.

”Wild elephants walking along a trail stop and spontaneously try to protect and assist a weak and dying fellow elephant. Laboratory rats, finding other rats caged nearby in distressing circumstances, proceed to rescue them. A chimpanzee in a zoo loses his own life trying to save an unrelated infant who has fallen into a watery moat. The examples above and many others, argues Dale Peterson, show that our fellow creatures have powerful impulses toward cooperation, generosity, and fairness. Yet it is commonly held that we Homo sapiens are the only animals with a moral sense - that we are somehow above and apart from our fellow creatures. This rigorous and stimulating book challenges that notion, and it shows the profound connections - the moral continuum - that link humans to many other species. Peterson shows how much animal behavior follows principles embodied in humanity's ancient moral codes, from the Ten Commandments to the New Testament. Understanding the moral lives of animals offers new insight into our own. Dale Peterson's biography Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book and Boston Globe Best Book of 2006. His other publications include Visions of Caliban (with Jane Goodall) and Demonic Males (with Richard Wrangham). Peterson lectures in English at Tufts University.” – Audible.com synopsis