PRIMATES AND PHILOSOPHERS How Morality Evolved

The author presents a series of arguments countering the widely held idea that morality in Homo sapiens forms a protective veneer over an underlying bestial animal. De Waal supports his charges with scientific observations of his own and those of other primate scientists. Listeners must decide which information seems valid. The audio production begins with a thirty-minute introduction; then follows the essay and the responses of four other scientists. With the printed book, one can distinguish among the contributors, but with a single-voiced narrator—Alan Sklar, reading without variation—they too easily blend. Since the controversy of the subject—emotions in apes—has generated this debate, multiple narrators or one that can do several voices would have improved the presentation. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2010]