The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex / Edition 1

by Charles Darwin, John Tyler Bonner, Robert M May

Overview

In the current resurgence of interest in the biological basis of animal behavior and social organization, the ideas and questions pursued by Charles Darwin remain fresh and insightful. This is especially true of The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin's second most important work. This edition is a facsimile reprint of the first printing of the first edition (1871), not previously available in paperback.


The work is divided into two parts. Part One marshals behavioral and morphological evidence to argue that humans evolved from other animals. Darwin shoes that human mental and emotional capacities, far from making human beings unique, are evidence of an animal origin and evolutionary development. Part Two is an extended discussion of the differences between the sexes of many species and how they arose as a result of selection. Here Darwin lays the foundation for much contemporary research by arguing that many characteristics of animals have evolved not in response to the selective pressures exerted by their physical and biological environment, but rather to confer an advantage in sexual competition. These two themes are drawn together in two final chapters on the role of sexual selection in humans.


In their Introduction, Professors Bonner and May discuss the place of The Descent in its own time and relation to current work in biology and other disciplines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691023694
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	08/21/1981
Series:	Princeton Science Library
Edition description:	With a New introduction by J. T. Bonner and R. M. May
Pages:	960
Sales rank:	285,127
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Tyler Bonner and Robert M. May are Professors of Biology at Princeton University.

Date of Birth:

February 12, 1809

Date of Death:

April 19, 1882

Place of Birth:

Shrewsbury, England

Place of Death:

London, England

Education:

B.A. in Theology, Christ¿s College, Cambridge University, 1831

Table of Contents

• Frontmatter, pg. i
• Contents VOL I, pg. v
• Introduction, pg. vii
• Notes and References, pg. xxxvi
• Contents, pg. xlv
• Introduction, pg. 1
• Chapter I. The Evidence of the Descent of Man From Some Lower Form, pg. 9
• Chapter II. Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals, pg. 34
• Chapter III. Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals—Continued, pg. 70
• Chapter IV. On the Manner of Development of Man From Some Lower Form, pg. 107
• Chapter V. On the Development of the Intellectual and Moral Faculties During Primeval and Civilised Times, pg. 158
• Chapter VI. On the Affinities and Genealogy of Man, pg. 185
• Chapter VII. On the Races of Man, pg. 214
• Chapter VIII. Principles of Sexual Selection, pg. 253
• Chapter IX. Secondary Sexual Characters in the Lower Classes of the Animal Kingdom., pg. 321
• Chapter X. Secondary Sexual Characters of Insects, pg. 341
• Chapter XI. Insects, Continued.—Order Lepidoptera, pg. 386
• Front Matter 2, pg. I
• Errata, pg. II
• Contents VOL. II., pg. III
• Postscript, pg. VII
• Chapter XII. Secondary Sexual Characters of Fishes, Amphibians, and Reptiles, pg. 1
• Chapter XIII. Secondary Sexual Characters of Birds, pg. 38
• Chapter XIV. Birds—Continued, pg. 99
• Chapter XV. Birds—Continued, pg. 154
• Chapter XVI. Birds—Concluded, pg. 183
• Chapter XVII. Secondary Sexual Characters Of Mammals, pg. 239
• Chapter XVIII. Secondary. Sexual Characters of Mammals— Continued, pg. 274
• Chapter XIX. Secondary Sexual Characters of Man, pg. 316
• Chapter XX. Secondary Sexual Characters of Man—Continued, pg. 355
• Chapter XXI. General Summary and Conclusion, pg. 385
• Index, pg. 406
• Table of the Principal Additions and Corrections to the Editions of 1874, pg. 477

Editorial Reviews

"[This work] is second only in importance to the Origin of Species . . . among Darwin's works and the book in which he uses the word evolution for the first time."

Natural History

"[This work] is second only in importance to the Origin of Species . . . among Darwin's works and the book in which he uses the word evolution for the first time."-- "Natural History"

From the Publisher

"[This work] is second only in importance to the Origin of Species . . . among Darwin's works and the book in which he uses the word evolution for the first time."

Natural History