Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado Boulder professor emeritus of biology, will discuss animal emotions and empathy at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 11 at the Louisville Public Library, 951 Spruce Street.
The program, “Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Expanding Our Compassion Footprint and Rewilding Our Hearts,” is free and open to the public.
Bekoff will share his research in cognitive ethology, the study of animal minds, which indicates animals are emotional, compassionate, empathic, and moral beings.
“What we observe when animals interact with one another tells us a lot about what's happening inside their heads and hearts,” he said. “I will focus on animal emotions and moral behavior and the details of social play behavior and fair play especially in dogs, coyotes, and wolves.”
According to Bekoff, humans have a lot to learn from animals and their abilities to cooperate. As we develop our understanding of animal emotions and behaviors, we can expand our compassion for animals, he said.
“We’re very confused about our relationships with other animal beings and we ignore nature by ignoring who—not what—they are,” Bekoff said. “We owe it to all individual animals to make every attempt to come to a greater understanding and appreciation of who they are—emotional, empathic, and often moral beings, not insensitive objects.”
Part of a series called CU at the Library, this program is jointly sponsored by the Louisville Public Library and the CU-Boulder Office for University Outreach. It is one of many public programs offered through CU-Boulder partnerships with local libraries. For more information about CU at the Library, visit http://conted.colorado.edu/library/.
-CU-Boulder Office for University Outreach-