[lbo-talk] We May Be Born With an Urge to Help

[Matthias Wasser]

If I may be a Grey Vampire: this doesn't show that prosocial behavior is
innate except in the sense that the capacity for altruism is innate, which
we already knew from the fact that, duh, people exhibit prosocial behavior.
(Is "innate capacity" logically redundant? Maybe, but I don't think anybody
wants to get into a dialogue with Plantiga.)

And then there's this gem:


> Indeed, it is in our biological nature, not our
> political institutions, that we should put our trust, in
> his view. Our empathy is innate and cannot be changed or
> long suppressed. "In fact," Dr. de Waal writes, "I'd
> argue that biology constitutes our greatest hope. One
> can only shudder at the thought that the humaneness of
> our societies would depend on the whims of politics,
> culture or religion."

What does that even mean? Read literally I think he's saying he shudders to
think (and rejects the possibility) that there could be combinations of
politics, culture, or religion under which societies are not humane. But as
an educated person he obviously knows that those exist. Maybe he shudders to
think (and rejects the possibility) that human societies would, sans
politics, culture, and religion, not be humane. But that's just
transparent gibberish.