Frans de Waal, who "used his study of the inner lives of animals to build a powerful case that apes think, feel, strategize, pass down culture and act on moral sentiments," died March 14, the New York Times reported. He was 75.
A psychologist at Emory University in Atlanta and a research scientist at the school's Yerkes National Primate Research Center, de Waal "objected to the common usage of the word 'instinct.' He saw the behavior of all sentient creatures, from crows to persons, existing on the same broad continuum of evolutionary adaptation," the Times noted, adding that the "ambition and clarity of his thought, his skills as a storyteller and his prolific output made him an exceptionally popular figure for a primatologist--or a serious scientist of any kind."
He published 13 books, and at his death was writing another on how our thinking about animals has evolved over time. John Glusman, v-p and executive editor of W.W. Norton & Co., said the company plans to release it next year.
Two of de Waal's works, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (2016) and Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves (2019), were bestsellers. The novelists Claire Messud and Sigrid Nunez both told the Times that they liked his writing. Major philosophers, including Christine Korsgaard and Peter Singer, wrote long, considered responses to his ideas.
Many of de Waal's animal anecdotes were moving, the Times noted, citing his writing about a bonobo named Kuni, who once picked up an injured starling, climbed a tree, spread the bird's wings and then released it, enabling it to fly. "She tailored her assistance to the specific situation of an animal totally different from herself," he wrote in Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are (2005).
His other books include The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society (2009), The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates (2013), and Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist.
"It's difficult to sum up the enormity of Frans de Waal's impact, both globally and here at Emory," said Lynne Nygaard, chair of Emory's Department of Psychology. "He was an extraordinarily deep thinker who could also think broadly, making insights that cut across disciplines. He was always ready to participate in an intellectual discussion."
In 2014, de Waal observed: "One thing that I've seen often in my career is claims of human uniqueness that fall away and are never heard from again.We always end up overestimating the complexity of what we do. That's how you can sum up my career: I've brought apes a little closer to humans but I've also brought humans down a bit."