In this wonderful short video from NOVA’s series The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers, Dr. Goodall considers how empathy for other animals brings us closer to our highest human potentiality:
“I was told you have to give them numbers because you’ve got to be objective as a scientist, and you mustn’t empathize with your subjects and I feel this is where science has gone wrong. To have this coldness, this lack of empathy has enabled some scientist to do unethical behavior.
Moreover, why deny a perfectly respectable tool? I think those two are behaving like that because that’s how I would behave if I was in that situation, that’s empathy. Once you’ve worked out why you think they are doing that, then you can start testing that. Am I right? Is this a valid assumption or not? But it gives you the groundwork for asking questions,
I think empathy is really important and I think only when our clever brain and our human heart work together in harmony can we achieve our full potential. “
Jane Goodall
