According to the New York Times, scientists have gone public with their findings regarding fossil evidence that compassion is an evolutionary trait.
The toothless skull of an early human ancestor, discovered in the Republic of Georgia, may attest to evolution’s oldest known example of some kind of compassion for the elderly and handicapped in society, scientists are reporting today.
In interviews and the current issue of National Geographic, the paleoanthropologists said caring companions might have helped the toothless man in finding soft plant food and hammering raw meat with stone tools so he could “gum” his dinner. If so, they said, this was evidence of a kind of compassion that had been absent in the ancestral fossil record before the Neanderthals 60,000 years ago.
In the survival of the old man, Dr. David Lordkinidze said in National Geographic, “We’re looking at perhaps the first sign of truly human behavior in one of our ancestors.”
Having just argued that compassionate politics do not have to be reliant on notions of God, that we do not have to cede ground to the Right on this, reading this article presents proof that caring for other human beings is a human impulse, a late impulse that contributed to our evolution, the thing that, gasp! makes us human.
So, long, long ago, our ancestors kept a toothless old man alive. For what reasons and at what cost to themselves? At some point, humans developed the notion of a common bond, of an empathy for their fellow travelers.
Do we have any doubt which movement can claim that as our lineage?
but I know my dog would feed me if he could.
My cats? I’m not so sure.
he’s a great looking dog, but don’t let Rick Santorum know that we’re claiming dogs here as progressives.
and empathy has been proven in chimps. Is that the dividing line then between animals and humans? A human will help another without anticipating any need or reward, some humans anyway. A chimp shows empathy but only to those in the support group that he needs for his survival.
to those in [their] support group.”
I believe that Chimpy has said the jury is still out on evolution. If you consider his support group to be the oil industry, I believe the jury has spoken about the First Primate.
Please stop using him to represent these intelligent creatures.
Admittedly on the four occasions she has caught a wild duck on the marshes (yes, really) she has eaten the breasts of the duck before letting me near it. But she always stands aside as if inviting me to have what’s left.
Rabbits she eats whole.
Her sick making hunting habits are the mildest part of her loathesome self.
But she is a wonderful dog because she owns me and I am always obedient.
Such behaviour is known in other modern day species (eg wild dogs caring for members of the pack who are injured too much to hunt) so I’m afraid this is NOT proof of anything special about humans. I would guess it is common enough among social mammals.
This is about as intellectually offensive a statement as I’ve ever heard in my life.
Neither “movement” can trace lineage to these findings. To even begin to suppose that such a thing is possible is to border on Naziesque Eugenics.
What does it even have to do with politics, period?
Please forgive me if this was just some flippant joke you thought was interesting.
But if you actually believe this, then I’m somewhat afraid.