The Moral Lives of Animals

Wild elephants walking along a trail stop and spontaneously try to

protect and assist a weak and dying fellow elephant. Laboratory rats,

finding other rats caged nearby in distressing circumstances, proceed to

rescue them. A chimpanzee in a zoo loses his own life trying to save an

unrelated infant who has fallen into a watery moat.

The

examples above and many others, argues Dale Peterson, show that our

fellow creatures have powerful impulses toward cooperation, generosity,

and fairness. Yet it is commonly held that we Homo sapiens are the only

animals with a moral sense-that we are somehow above and apart from our

fellow creatures.

This rigorous and stimulating book challenges

that notion, and it shows the profound connections-the moral

continuum-that link humans to many other species. Peterson shows how

much animal behavior follows principles embodied in humanity's ancient

moral codes, from the Ten Commandments to the New Testament.

Understanding the moral lives of animals offers new insight into our

own.