Peacemaking among Primates

Very good book for those interested in primate behavior. Or, for those not yet interested in primate behavior. Or for anybody sentient. The writing and storytelling are vibrant enough that you can read this for pure fun. The level of insight, the author's power of questioning, the mix of rigorous observation and inference with boundary-crossing insight, are thrilling and rare. The offer to improve our understanding of ourselves along with primates makes this a book of great power. I read this several years ago and still find myself dwelling on the ideas. I find myself viewing the world differently and more hopefully because of it. A pity I lent my copy out one time too many. Maybe I'll buy another.

I've been rereading Franz De Waal's books for the first time since my old Anthro days. I remember why I enjoyed them so much. The stories are mesmerizing and the implications are worth thinking about. But I was annoyed at the endless debate that always had to go hand and hand with this type of research. That was the problem with the social sciences. A handful of tools in every crowd will find a way to turn even the most fascinating topics tedious. Obviously it's not above criticism. Anytime you have animals observing other animal's behavior, there is inherent subjectivity. Ethology is specifically human animals observing non-humans, so even more room for subjective error. It's interesting, though, the projection that goes into play. We looked up into the skies and created a god in our own narcissistic image, a god of love whose behavior could be quite vengeful and sadistic. Then we looked around at the animal kingdom and project again. Some of us see fluffy teddy bears, some of us see savagery, and some people see a shooting gallery. The old-school, male-dominated scientific community looked at primate communities and saw a hierarchy of males, based on brute strength and bullying, in competition over the females. A newer generation, influenced by cultural changes, was able to look at the same thing and see the subtle and intricate social machinations that go into resolving conflicts and maintaining the peace in between fights. Turns out the apes who rise to the top of the hierarchy actually maintain their success by establishing good alliances with other males, undermining the alliances of their most serious competitors, and establishing alliances with the females as well (kissing babies). They actually seem to prefer to fight as little as possible. And when battles are inevitable, they are preceded by long periods of escalating bluffing. What do you know? Critics say that this isn't the whole story. Yeah? No kidding. I wish people didn't feel the need to point that out. Why would any one persons take on anything be the whole story. Can we all agree that nothing is whole story? Stop deconstructing all the time and start a little constructing every now and then. Even when the pendulum swings to far, it cuts a wider swath, and we have more of the story to work with. The other debate around this type of research is whether or not any level of anthropomorphizing is legitimate. It's an important question to acknowledge but I think if we are starting with the understanding that all of this research is inherently biased, that it is qualitative in nature, that the act of observing alters the observed, blah, blah, blah, it's all old territory now. Keep it in mind, then move on. Every type of research has its own strengths and its own limitations, and what you do with the information should be tempered accordingly. That said, I think it takes just as much of a leap of faith to watch a primate community interacting and deny that there is anything go

Very good book for those interested in primate behavior in general. De Waal is an execellent writer and produces books that flow very easily while keeping you interested.