A Zoologist Looks at Humankind

by Adolf Portmann, Judith Schaefer (Translator)

Portmann, a Swiss zoologist, argues against investigating human nature only through biological comparison to other animals, and suggests concentration on our uniqueness as a species. He describes two concepts of evolution the biological and the historical and argues that we must go beyond the mechanism of mutation in order to understand our origins. Beautifully conceived and executed, but Portmann, in his desire to define the particularly "human", implicitly and unjustly diminishes the uniqueness and complexity of other animal species. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

174 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1990

About the author

Adolf Portmann was a zoologist. He studied zoology at the University of Basel and worked later in Geneva, Munich, Paris and Berlin, but mainly in marine biology laboratories in France and Helgoland. In 1931 he became professor of zoology in Basel. His main research areas covered marine biology and comparative morphology of vertebrates. His work was often interdisciplinary comprising sociological and philosophical aspects of life of animals and humans.