Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society: The Wisdom of Frans de Waal

There is a popular belief about Nature that we live in a dog-eat-world of brutish survival of the fittest. If such a pessimistic world view ever makes you depressed, primate psychologist Frans de Waal offers an optimistic counterpoint. He found striking evidence that animals other than humans have empathy and a sense of fair play, as well as cognition. Dr. Michael
Sullivan will discuss de Waal’s counterintuitive findings from the uplifting The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society. These include the ways that empathy has evolved in animals as a widespread adaptive trait, underscoring the intelligence of animals which is often dismissed.

Speakers

Past Services

On Faith, Hope, and Love

This Father’s Day service will blend the values of faith, hope, and love, as Chip Harriford shares stories of fatherhood, the importance of Juneteenth, and his connection to the Charleston Nine.

Free to Be Me and You

June is Pride Month. It’s a month to recognize and accept this diverse community that is characterized by a shared culture, social movements, and a focus on individuality. An introductory discussion for the month begins with recognizing how people are different and why that’s okay. Each of us is born in a different time and place and has a different heredity and environment. The product of the choices made by those factors makes us who we are: Free to be you and me.

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