Listening to the BBC's radio program The Why Factor particularly poignant episode What Can Chimps Teach us About Politics? hosted by Professor James Tilley, I heard Professor Frans de Waal of Emory University's Yerkes Primate Research Center, and author of Chimpanzee Politics say:
The differences are so small; normally we would put humans and chimpanzees in the same genus, but because of sensitivities in the human species we’ve not done that.
I'm wondering if this is an opinion, or arguably correct. I understand that taxonomy is an "evolving" discipline, but are there scientific arguments or viewpoints that would suggest that chimps and humans would be in the same genus if not for public, social or individual sensitivity to the idea?