Beasts: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good and EvilBestselling author Jeffrey Masson shows us what the animals at the top of the food chain-orca whales, big cats, etc.-can teach us about the origins of good and evil in ourselves. In his previous bestsellers, Masson has showed us that animals can teach us much about our own emotions-love (dogs), contentment (cats), and grief (elephants), among others. In Beasts, he demonstrates that the violence we perceive in the “wild” is a matter of projection. Animals predators kill to survive, but animal aggression is not even remotely equivalent to the violence of mankind. Humans are the most violent animals to our own kind in existence. We lack what all other animals have: a check on the aggression that would destroy the species rather than serve it. In Beasts, Masson brings to life the richness of the animal world and strips away our misconceptions of the creatures we fear, offering a powerful and compelling look at our uniquely human propensity toward aggression. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
| 17 | |
Conformity | 26 |
Cruelty | 36 |
War | 50 |
Killing | 66 |
Hatred | 83 |
A Billion Acts of Kindness | 150 |
Elephant Trauma and the Promise of a Better World | 157 |
Human Traits Unique to Us | 163 |
Traits Humans Have in Common with Other | 169 |
What Humans Do to Other Animals | 173 |
The Problem with Pinker on the Problem of Human Violence | 175 |
Acknowledgments | 181 |
Notes | 183 |
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adult African aggressive Alexander Solzhenitsyn altruism Anna Freud apex predators attacks beast behave behavior believe big cats biologists bonobos brain bull bullfighting calf called carnivores child chimpanzees chimps claim consider crocodiles cruel cruelty culture dangerous Darwin David Mech death dogs domestication E. O. Wilson elephants enemies entire evolutionary example fact fear feel female fight film Frans de Waal Freud genetic genocide gorillas Haldane happened hatred herd human violence hundred hunt hunter-gatherers hunters indifference Jane Goodall Jared Diamond kill Killer Whales kind Kitty Genovese lions lives male mammals million mother murder nature never orcas ourselves perhaps person Pinker Plumwood polar bears prey Primatology rarely Richard Wrangham roosters Semai sharks simply social societies species story suffering survive thousand years ago tigers tion torture trauma true University Press warfare wolf wolves Wrangham writes wrote York young