THE HUMAN SIDE OF APES
primarily to his much finer intellect and to the greater variety and delicacy of his emotions and sentiments. Probably no animal can appreciate the beauty of a sunset or the charm of an attractive landscape. If we can rightly boast of any moral superiority over our less favored animal associates it is not because we are more devoted to our own kind or follow more faithfully the standards of our own particular group; it is because we are consciously moral and are able to make moral judgments and talk about right and wrong; and we can do these things simply because we have much better minds and a richer emotional life than our animal progenitors.
The fear that the foundations of morality would be undermined if it were proved that we are derived from an animal ancestry is eminently absurd. The foundations of moral life lie deeply rooted in the domestic and social instincts, which form the mainsprings of action in animals and men alike. We do not speak of sympathy, mutual helpfulness, or parental love (Fig. 1) as parts of our so-called “animal nature,” although in consistency we should do so, for these traits are as much a part of the nature of animals as ferocity or greed. It is traits such as affection, sympathy, and group loyalty that constitute the basis of our moral impulses and sentiments. Our social and altruistic impulses are no less worthy of esteem if they are shared by less highly developed creatures than ourselves. Like the lower animals, we are in general sympathetic and helpful to our own kind. To our enemies and the enemies of our country we are hostile, and often cruel. All this is human nature. It is also animal nature. In man and animals love and antipathy, courage and cowardice, self-sacrifice and selfishness, loyalty and deception, play much the same part in determining behavior. We play the game of life less simply and crudely than the
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