El context històric de L’origen de l’home, de Darwin

Authors

  • Janet Browne Harvard University

Keywords:

anthropology, sexual selection, human origins, history of biology, Victorian era.

Abstract

Darwin published The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex in 1871 as a major contribution to the Victorian debate over the evolutionary origins of humankind. Much of that debate began after publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859. Yet Darwin had deliberately excluded human beings from the Origin. The Descent of Man includes his longstanding research into the animal origins of human characteristics and several important new theories, including sexual selection. The theory of sexual selection lay at the heart of his proposed explanation of the diversification of human races. His reasons for publication are explored and the book is placed in contemporary 19th century social context.

Keywords: anthropology, sexual selection, human origins, history of biology, Victorian era.

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Author Biography

Janet Browne, Harvard University

Aramont Professor in History of Science, Harvard University

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