ABSTRACT
These words, from novelist J. M. Coetzee (1990, p. 17), capture the deep emotional roots of altruism and empathy.
Long before humans arrived on the scene, as early as the evolution of mammals and birds, animals had developed the capacity to recognize distress in others and to respond to the needs or pain of the other. Darwin (1871/1981) saw sympathy and sacrifi ce for others as part of the “social instinct” that the human has in common with many other animals.
