Scientists put love under the microscope
For years now, evolutionary scientists have insisted that, outside close-kin relationships, all caring acts are motivated by self-interest and calculation. The "selfish gene" theory permeates wide realms of contemporary life.
Yet everyday experience seems to suggest otherwise not only in extraordinary lives like that of Mother Teresa, but in those of ordinary people, like the hundreds who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis, or those who rushed to help at ground zero after Sept.11, or who quietly devote energies to serving others in their communities.
Now, the world of science is starting to grapple with that dichotomy by undertaking an investigation into the nature of love and its expression in compassionate service.
"In a time of international violence and an alarming amount of hate in our world ... we have no real alternative," says Stephen Post, a bioethicist who heads the new effort.
The initiative represents another step in bridging the gap between science and religion. And it is further evidence of a significant shift within key scientific disciplines from focusing on the negative, deficit, or disease model of human nature to the positive, virtuous, and thriving aspects of human nature.
"Empirical work on what makes people good can make a better world," says Jacob Neusner, professor of religion at Bard College. "If you can identify what motivates acts of self-sacrifice and love, you have a shot at forming an objective foundation for moral improvement."
The new Institute for Research on Unlimited Love is located at one of the country's most prominent medical schools, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, with an initial endowment of $4 million. "Unlimited love" is defined as "altruistic affirmation and care for all humanity without exception."
Despite a name couched more in the language of religion than of science, the response from scientists "has been overwhelming," says Dr. Post. The first call for proposals brought more than 320 submissions from top research institutions such Stanford, Harvard and Princeton. About 30 projects will be funded.
"Given the power of the scientific model as an explanatory key in our world," it's crucial that science capture to the extent possible the full image of human nature, including forgiveness, gratitude, and love, he says.
The effort ranges across disciplines from psychology and human development to public health and medicine, neuroscience, sociology, and evolutionary science. It will also consider the link between religion/spirituality and these virtues.
A proposed project from General Theological Seminary in New York City, for example, would provide a portrait of American spiritual culture through the lens of the volunteers and workers at Ground Zero over the past eight months. "It was like you were seeing the relentless love of God being poured out through people everywhere you looked," says Courtney Cowart, a former Trinity Church staff member who supported workers who slept at St. Paul's Chapel, next to the site.
Post recalls that right after 9/11, Mister Rogers of TV fame was asked what should be said to the children. His reply: "Tell them to keep their eyes on the helpers."
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