I
Unit 1: The Meaning of Morality
2. Is morality unique to humans?
I
t is a beautiful August day at Brookfield Zoo
in Chicago. You are chatting with your friends
when suddenly you hear a woman scream. Her
three-year-old son has climbed over a box on top
of a three-and-a-half-foot railing and fallen into the
gorilla enclosure, an 18-foot drop. You run over to
see what has happened. The child is lying still on
the concrete floor below. He has been knocked
unconscious by the fall. Then, to your surprise, the
child is quickly rescued. Not by a human, but by
a female gorilla named Binti Jua (a Swahili name
meaning: 'Daughter of Sunshine'). Binti, who is
carrying her own infant on her back, gently picks
up the little boy, cradles him in her arms and carries
him safely to the door at the back of the enclosure.
There she hands him over to paramedics who are
waiting anxiously to assess the boy's injuries.
Some writers such as Frans de Waal believe
that Binti did this because she was concerned
for the little boy's welfare. She may have feared
that some of the other gorillas would attack him
or she was worried that the child was injured and
urgently needed help.
Could this be evidence that some animals
have an awareness of right and wrong? Do some
animals have mo_rality?
Other writers interpret this incident quite
differently. They believe there is less to it than
meets the eye.
First, Binti did not have
, t.., ;.t,·
to rescue the little boy
~
from the other gorillas in
the pen. Zoo staff used
high-pressure water hoses
to keep the other gorillas
at bay.
Second, Binti had been
neglected by her own
mother, and as a result
had been hand-reared
by humans. In an effort
to improve the chance
that Binti would be a
better mother herself, her
keepers had trained her
with an ape-like stuffed
doll. She had to be taught
nurturing
skills;
staff
rewarded her for holding
the doll correctly and bringing it carefully to them
for inspection. All this helped Binti become a
competent mother when she gave birth 17 months
earlier.
Third, the little boy had been knocked senseless
by the fall. Due to his small size and stillness, he
may have resembled a doll to Binti. Had the child
not been unconscious, she might have reacted
differently.
It is most likely that Binti's behaviour during this
incident reflects the training she received rather
than any desire to help someone in need. What
appears on the surface to have been an instance
of moral awareness turns out to be a learned
behaviour.
As Dale Peterson has warned, it is an easy
mistake to make. We have a tendency to project
human values and behaviours on to other species.
Think of the success of fictional animals in films
such as Finding Nemo or Wallace and Gromit.
However, we should not judge animals by their
similarity to us. Peterson says t~at this is as silly
as 'dressing elephants in tutus'. ('
Most psychologists agree th'at, like humans,
some animals have a capacity to make decisions,
store memories and learn from experience.
However, they point out that there are very real
differences between the mind of a human being
and that of an animal.
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11
With your partner consider...
In the case of Binti Jua rescuing the child in the gorilla
exhibit, some people argue that her actions reflect a
sense of empathy or moral consideration. Do you
believe that animals, such as gorillas, are capable of
demonstrating moral behaviour or values? Why or why
not? Consider factors like instinct, empathy, and the
potential for animals to make moral decisions.