Franz DeWaal has studied chimpanzees and other primates for many years. His insights are important from a number of perspectives. In this section, we will explore how DeWaal envisions human qualities such as rule making, altruism, reciprocity, and morality. I visited China in the early part of the summer of 1997. I found a people who were openly altruistic and viewed giving as a natural response to human relationships. It was a contrast from what I am use to in Arizona (and elsewhere in the United States). I have been around Native Americans a lot in recent years (including being married to one) and I have often seen the connections between family and friends reinforced through giving (reciprocity). Often this things are given without any real desire for a return gift but as a sign of friendship. I was told in China that you do for others because at some point and in some way someone will do for you. It does not need to be the same person for whom you gave a gift or did something out of friendship. It will come your way because you had done it period.
It is important to begin with altruism. This provides a basis for understanding what is meant by this concept. Simply it is doing for someone or others without expectations. I think of caring for an elderly parent or a good samaritan who stops to administer aid in an emergency situation. It is a quality of humans that is at the root of human morality in a cross-cultural sense.
DeWaal asks us to consider whether or not the basis for altruism is genetic. As with other issues, there is suggestion that we are influenced both by our genetic coding and by what we learn. Imitation plays an important role for apes as they learn rules of behavior. What we know from other primate studies is that apes use less imitation for learning than humans and yet more than other primates. Show a human child and a young chimpanzee how to do something and you have two solutions. The human solution is to watch was has been demonstrated and relatively quickly turn to that as the solution. A chimp on the other hand is more likely to stay at trying to find its own solution and will ignore the demonstration. A great example of this is the Bonobo Kanzi who was shown how to chip stone flakes by Nicholas Toff. The goal for Kanzi was to cut a rope and open a box that had food within it. Kanzi kept at it trying to solve the problem in his own way. He recognized that the issue was to create a sharp edge. That part of the demonstration was obsorbed. However, he continually tried to chip flakes by throwing a "core" to the ground. Eventually that worked and Kanzi solved the problem.
One of the issue that DeWaal explores is cooperation. Chimpanzees are aware of those around them and what they are doing just as we are. Here are two situations to ponder.
Polio among the Chimpanzees of Gombe provides a situation where the chimpanzees had options for showing compassion or not showing it.
At this point it is appropriate to turn to another term and explore human morality is a slightly different way. The term is egalitarian.