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The Descent Of Man And Selection In Relation To SexThe Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex by British naturalist Charles Darwin was first published in 1871. It was Darwin's second large book on evolutionary theory, following his 1859 work, The Origin of Species, and is concerned with outlining explicitly the application of Darwin's theory to human evolution, and outlining in detail the theory of sexual selection. Background Charles Darwin's Origin of Species had been met with a firestorm of controversy, largely because it was clear that it implied that human beings were evolved from animals, contradicting the story of Genesis and implying an animal nature. Darwin had not made the link explicit in Origin, though; a single line hinted at such a conclusion: "light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history". But the conclusion was fairly obvious to his contemporaries, and became the subtext if not the center of many debates over his theory (such as those between T.H. Huxley and Richard Owen over the brains of apes). Darwin's writing on the subject in The Descent of Man came twelve years after his work on Origin, and was by far not the first work on human evolution. As such, the book is significant primarily in that it is a response to various debates of Darwin's time far more wide-ranging than the questions he raised in Origin. Human faculties The major sticking point for many in the question of human evolution was whether or not human mental faculties could have possibly been evolved. The gap between humans and even the smartest ape seemed too large even for those who were sympathetic to Darwin's larger theory. Alfred Russel Wallace, the "co-discoverer" of evolution by natural selection, believed that the human mind was too complex to have evolved gradually, and began over time to subscribe to a theory of evolution which took more from spiritualism than it did the natural world. Darwin was deeply distressed by Wallace's change of heart and much of the Descent of Man is in response to opinions put forth by Wallace. Darwin focuses less on the question of whether humans evolved as it does on displaying that each of the human faculties considered to be so far beyond those of animals—such as moral reasoning, sympathy for others, beauty, and music—can be seen in kind (if not degree) in other animal species (usually apes and dogs). Human races The questions of what "race" was, how many human races there were, and whether they could be "mixed", were key debates in the nascent field of anthropology in Darwin's time. After the American Civil War (1861-1865), the question was again brought to the forefront, and many scientists from the Southern U.S. were publishing long monographs on why the "Negro" was inferior and would soon be driven to extinction by newfound freedom. Darwin was a long-time abolitionist who had been horrified by slavery when he first came into contact with it in Brazil while touring the world on the HMS Beagle many years before, and considered the "race question" one of the most important of his day. Darwin took a radical view for his time—that all human beings were of the same species, and that races, if they were useful markers at all, were simple "sub-species" or "variants." This view (monogeny) was in stark contrast with the majority view in anthropology at the time, that the different human races were distinct species (polygeny). Polygeny was supported by thinkers of many backgrounds, such as the Creationist Louis Agassiz, and by later thinkers who would interpret Darwin's theory to imply that races had been evolved at different times or stages. Darwin's own views of this were that the differences between human races were superficial (he discusses them only in terms of skin color and hair style), and much of Descent is devoted to the question of the human races. Social implications of Darwinism Since the publication of Origin, a wide variety of opinions had been put forward on whether or not the theory had implications towards human society. One of these was what would later be known as Social Darwinism, usually ascribed to the ideas of Herbert Spencer, which argued that society would naturally separate itself along lines of the "more fit" and "less fit". Another of these interpretations, later known as eugenics, was put forth by Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton, in 1865 and 1869. Galton argued that just as physical traits were clearly inherited among generations of people, so could be said for mental qualities (genius and talent). If this were true, Galton argued, then humans should arrange society in ways which would encourage the smartest members of society to reproduce more and discourage the "less fit" members of society not to reproduce. In Galton's view, social institutions such as welfare and insane asylums were allowing "inferior" humans to survive and reproduce at levels faster than the more "superior" humans in respectable society, and if corrections were not soon taken, society would be awash with "inferiors." Darwin read his cousin's work with interest, and devoted sections of Descent of Man to discussion of Galton's theories. Neither Galton nor Darwin, though, advocated any eugenic policies such as those which would be undertaken in the early 20th century, as government coercion of any form was very much against their political opinions. Other implications of Darwin's theory were related to the question of the education of women, which Darwin also had strong feelings on and addresses in Descent. Apparently non-adaptive features In Darwin's view, anything that could be expected to have some adaptive feature could be explained easily with his theory of natural selection. In Origin, Darwin had admitted that to use natural selection to explain something as complicated as a human eye, "with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration" might at first appear "absurd in the highest possible degree," but nevertheless, if "numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist", then it seemed quite possible to account for within his theory. More difficult for Darwin were highly evolved and complicated features which conveyed apparently no adaptive advantage to the organism in question. He once wrote to a colleague that "The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!" Why should birds like peacock's develop such elaborate tails, which seemed to at best be a hinderance in their "struggle for existence"? To answer the question, Darwin developed the theory of sexual selection, which outlined how different characters could be selected for if they conveyed a reproductive advantage to the individual. In Darwin's version of the theory, male animals in particular received the benefits of sexual selection, either by acquiring "weapons" with which to fight over females with other males, or by acquiring beautiful plumage with which to woo the female animals. Much of Descent is devoted to providing evidence for sexual selection in nature, which he also ties in to the development of aesthetic instincts in human beings, as well as the differences in coloration between the human races. Part I: The evolution of man In the introduction to Descent, Darwin lays out the purpose of his text: - The sole object of this work is to consider, firstly, whether man, like every other species, is descended from some pre-existing form; secondly, the manner of his development; and thirdly, the value of the differences between the so-called races of man.
Darwin's approach to arguing for the evolution of human beings was to outline how similar human beings were towards other animals. He began by using anatomical similarities, focusing on body structure, embryology, and "rudimentary organs" which were presumably useful in one of man's "pre-existing" forms. He then moves on to arguing for the similarity of mental characteristics. Based on the work of his cousin Galton, Darwin is able to assert that human character traits and mental characteristics are inherited the same as physical characteristics, and argues against the mind/body distinction for the purposes of evolutionary theory. From this Darwin then provides evidence for similar mental powers and characteristics in certain animals, focusing especially on apes, monkeys, and dogs for his analogies for love, cleverness, religion, kindmess, and altruism. He additionally turns to the behavior of "savages" to show how many aspects of Victorian England's great "civilization" can be seen in more primitive forms. In particular, Darwin argues that even moral and social instincts are evolved, comparing religion in man to fetishism in "savages" and his dog's inability to tell whether a wind-blown parasol was alive or not. Darwin also argues that all civilizations had risen out of barbarism, and that e did not think that barbarism is not a "fall from grace" as many commentators of his time had asserted. (Darwin on race and sex) Part II and III: Sexual selection (Darwin's argument for sexual selection, and evidence) Conclusion (Darwin's conclusion.) External links Descent of Man, The Descent of Man, The Descent of Man, The
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