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A Most Interesting Problem: What Darwin’s Descent of Man Got Right and Wrong about Human Evolution
Leading scholars take stock of Darwin's ideas about human evolution in the light of modern science
In 1871, Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man , a companion to Origin of Species in which he attempted to explain human evolution, a topic he called "the highest and most interesting problem for the naturalist." A Most Interesting Problem brings together twelve world-class scholars and science communicators to investigate what Darwin got right―and what he got wrong―about the origin, history, and biological variation of humans.
Edited by Jeremy DeSilva and with an introduction by acclaimed Darwin biographer Janet Browne, A Most Interesting Problem draws on the latest discoveries in fields such as genetics, paleontology, bioarchaeology, anthropology, and primatology. This compelling and accessible book tackles the very subjects Darwin explores in Descent , including the evidence for human evolution, our place in the family tree, the origins of civilization, human races, and sex differences.
A Most Interesting Problem is a testament to how scientific ideas are tested and how evidence helps to structure our narratives about human origins, showing how some of Darwin's ideas have withstood more than a century of scrutiny while others have not.
A Most Interesting Problem features contributions by Janet Browne, Jeremy DeSilva, Holly Dunsworth, Agustín Fuentes, Ann Gibbons, Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Brian Hare, John Hawks, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Kristina Killgrove, Alice Roberts, and Michael J. Ryan.
In 1871, Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man , a companion to Origin of Species in which he attempted to explain human evolution, a topic he called "the highest and most interesting problem for the naturalist." A Most Interesting Problem brings together twelve world-class scholars and science communicators to investigate what Darwin got right―and what he got wrong―about the origin, history, and biological variation of humans.
Edited by Jeremy DeSilva and with an introduction by acclaimed Darwin biographer Janet Browne, A Most Interesting Problem draws on the latest discoveries in fields such as genetics, paleontology, bioarchaeology, anthropology, and primatology. This compelling and accessible book tackles the very subjects Darwin explores in Descent , including the evidence for human evolution, our place in the family tree, the origins of civilization, human races, and sex differences.
A Most Interesting Problem is a testament to how scientific ideas are tested and how evidence helps to structure our narratives about human origins, showing how some of Darwin's ideas have withstood more than a century of scrutiny while others have not.
A Most Interesting Problem features contributions by Janet Browne, Jeremy DeSilva, Holly Dunsworth, Agustín Fuentes, Ann Gibbons, Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Brian Hare, John Hawks, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Kristina Killgrove, Alice Roberts, and Michael J. Ryan.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 12, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 31, 2021
This was an interesting, thought-provoking book. First, credit where credit is due. In spite of a lack of hominin fossil record and no direct access to genetics, Darwin still got a lot right. However, in The Descent of Man, he was far less scientific than in his Origin of Species. His basis of opinion is more cultural and observational, greatly influenced by the bias of Victorian society.
Here is a stark example, direct quote from Darwin...
"Man is more courageous, pugnacious, and energetic than woman, and has a more inventive genius."
These are direct excerpts from the book...
Darwin believed that sexual selection had fostered built-in male superiority across the world. In early human societies, he argued, the necessities of survival had resulted in men becoming physically stronger than women and in their intelligence and mental faculties improving beyond those of women. In civilized regimes it was evident to him that men, because of their well-developed intellectual and entrepreneurial capacities, ruled the social order.
In this way Darwin made human society an extension of biology and saw in every human group a “natural” basis for primacy of the male. After Descent of Man’s publication, early feminists and suffragettes bitterly attacked this doctrine, feeling that women were being “naturalized” by biology into a secondary, submissive role. Indeed, many medical men asserted that women’s brains were smaller than those of men, and they were eager enough to adopt Darwin’s suggestion that women were altogether less evolutionarily developed and that the “natural” function of women was to reproduce, not to think. For several decades, Anglo-American men in the medical profession thought that the female body was especially prone to medical disorders if the reproductive functions were denied.
In Descent of Man, Darwin also made concrete his thoughts on human cultural progress and civilization. The notion of a hierarchy of races informed his discussion and took added weight from being published at a time when the ideology of extending one nation’s rule over other nations or peoples was unquestioned. Those tribes with little or no culture (as determined by Europeans) were, he thought, likely to be overrun by bolder or more sophisticated populations. Darwin was certain that many of the currently existing peoples he called primitive would in time similarly be overrun and perhaps destroyed by more advanced races, such as Europeans; he had in mind particularly Tasmanian, Australian, and New Zealand aboriginal peoples. This to him was the playing out of the great law of “the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.”
These views intensified during the high imperialism of the early twentieth century. Herbert Spencer’s doctrine of “survival of the fittest,” as used by Darwin, Wallace, Spencer, and others, in Descent of Man and elsewhere, became a popular phrase in the development of social Darwinism. Embedded in powerful class, racial, and gender distinctions, social Darwinism used the prevailing ideas of competition and conquest
Karl Pearson, a committed Darwinian biologist, expressed it starkly in Britain in 1900: no one, he said, should regret that “a capable and stalwart race of white men should replace a dark-skinned tribe which can neither utilise its land for the full benefit of mankind, nor contribute its quota to the common stock of human knowledge.”
Several of Darwin’s remarks in Descent of Man captured anxieties that were soon to be made manifest in the eugenics movement. Darwin feared that what he called the “better” members of society were in danger of being numerically swamped by the “unfit.” He pointed out that medical aid and charity given to the sick and the poor ran against the fundamental principle of natural selection.
The U.S. took it further by promoting policies of incarceration and sterilization.
=========
Alas such ideas formed the basis of many prejudices that persist to this day and are still used to justify all sorts of heinous behavior by some.
Here is a stark example, direct quote from Darwin...
"Man is more courageous, pugnacious, and energetic than woman, and has a more inventive genius."
These are direct excerpts from the book...
Darwin believed that sexual selection had fostered built-in male superiority across the world. In early human societies, he argued, the necessities of survival had resulted in men becoming physically stronger than women and in their intelligence and mental faculties improving beyond those of women. In civilized regimes it was evident to him that men, because of their well-developed intellectual and entrepreneurial capacities, ruled the social order.
In this way Darwin made human society an extension of biology and saw in every human group a “natural” basis for primacy of the male. After Descent of Man’s publication, early feminists and suffragettes bitterly attacked this doctrine, feeling that women were being “naturalized” by biology into a secondary, submissive role. Indeed, many medical men asserted that women’s brains were smaller than those of men, and they were eager enough to adopt Darwin’s suggestion that women were altogether less evolutionarily developed and that the “natural” function of women was to reproduce, not to think. For several decades, Anglo-American men in the medical profession thought that the female body was especially prone to medical disorders if the reproductive functions were denied.
In Descent of Man, Darwin also made concrete his thoughts on human cultural progress and civilization. The notion of a hierarchy of races informed his discussion and took added weight from being published at a time when the ideology of extending one nation’s rule over other nations or peoples was unquestioned. Those tribes with little or no culture (as determined by Europeans) were, he thought, likely to be overrun by bolder or more sophisticated populations. Darwin was certain that many of the currently existing peoples he called primitive would in time similarly be overrun and perhaps destroyed by more advanced races, such as Europeans; he had in mind particularly Tasmanian, Australian, and New Zealand aboriginal peoples. This to him was the playing out of the great law of “the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.”
These views intensified during the high imperialism of the early twentieth century. Herbert Spencer’s doctrine of “survival of the fittest,” as used by Darwin, Wallace, Spencer, and others, in Descent of Man and elsewhere, became a popular phrase in the development of social Darwinism. Embedded in powerful class, racial, and gender distinctions, social Darwinism used the prevailing ideas of competition and conquest
Karl Pearson, a committed Darwinian biologist, expressed it starkly in Britain in 1900: no one, he said, should regret that “a capable and stalwart race of white men should replace a dark-skinned tribe which can neither utilise its land for the full benefit of mankind, nor contribute its quota to the common stock of human knowledge.”
Several of Darwin’s remarks in Descent of Man captured anxieties that were soon to be made manifest in the eugenics movement. Darwin feared that what he called the “better” members of society were in danger of being numerically swamped by the “unfit.” He pointed out that medical aid and charity given to the sick and the poor ran against the fundamental principle of natural selection.
The U.S. took it further by promoting policies of incarceration and sterilization.
=========
Alas such ideas formed the basis of many prejudices that persist to this day and are still used to justify all sorts of heinous behavior by some.
January 27, 2021
If you are a fan of the history of biology or a fan of Darwin, you will really enjoy reading this book. In the book, Jeremy DeSilva gathers a team of experts in different aspects of human evolution, each writing an essay-style chapter over their own respective branch of research corresponding to the chapters in Descent of Man.
The guest authors compare Darwin's writings in each chapter with what modern DNA, fossil evidence, etc. not available in Darwin's time has shown. As the authors point out, much of Darwin's intuition at the beginning of Descent of Man has conclusively been demonstrated to be correct, which is mind-blowing to imagine that Darwin had the creativity to think up so much in only the mid-1800s. The authors also correctly point out what Darwin got wrong, primarily in later chapters concerning race and sex. The tone of the book for me was a contrast between highlighting the insights he had into human evolution given so little evidence during his time and the ways in which his thinking was flawed and shown to be wrong by modern evidence.
With each author being a respected figure on different aspects of human evolution, they provide a large body of research findings that I never knew that are fascinating to read outside of the book. For example, did you know that a warm-blooded species with more corticol neurons tends to live longer than one with less? I sure didn't! What I really enjoy about this book and others similar to it is not only the great history of science contained in it, but it is also sprinkled with current research findings by experts within their own respective field. I will probably end up spending more time reading the items listed in the appendix than the book itself. So for the informative, easy-to-digest style of writing, the accuracy of both the history and science, and the amount of references to recent publications, I give this book five stars.
The guest authors compare Darwin's writings in each chapter with what modern DNA, fossil evidence, etc. not available in Darwin's time has shown. As the authors point out, much of Darwin's intuition at the beginning of Descent of Man has conclusively been demonstrated to be correct, which is mind-blowing to imagine that Darwin had the creativity to think up so much in only the mid-1800s. The authors also correctly point out what Darwin got wrong, primarily in later chapters concerning race and sex. The tone of the book for me was a contrast between highlighting the insights he had into human evolution given so little evidence during his time and the ways in which his thinking was flawed and shown to be wrong by modern evidence.
With each author being a respected figure on different aspects of human evolution, they provide a large body of research findings that I never knew that are fascinating to read outside of the book. For example, did you know that a warm-blooded species with more corticol neurons tends to live longer than one with less? I sure didn't! What I really enjoy about this book and others similar to it is not only the great history of science contained in it, but it is also sprinkled with current research findings by experts within their own respective field. I will probably end up spending more time reading the items listed in the appendix than the book itself. So for the informative, easy-to-digest style of writing, the accuracy of both the history and science, and the amount of references to recent publications, I give this book five stars.
February 18, 2022
I expected this book to do for Darwin's "The Descent of Man", as a separate volume, what James T. Costa's annotations did for "The Origin of Species" in a single volume: serve as an in-depth commentary and scientific update.
Most of the chapters are quite good, especially Michael Ryan's on sexual selection, and the two "dreams" that book-end the volume: Jeremy DeSilva's speculation on what Darwin must have thought of a Neanderthal skull that was brought to him in 1864, and Ann Gibbons' (undramatised) fantasy of a dinner table conversation between Darwin and her colleagues and herself as they visited Down House after a seminar (with Darwin doing all of the listening). The latter was a nice conceit for presenting a century and a half of scientific advances in a dense format.
What disappointed me in the book were the three chapters by feminists and anti-racists (about sixty pages in total), which together make up a kind of Woke counter-attack on Darwin and "the hard sciences and their male-dominated traditions" (p201.) Chapter 9, which deliberatly only cites female scholars, quotes approvingly the following statement: "The idealization of an objective and apolitical science built on rational thought and deliberation has a face, and that face is white and male" (p195.) Chapter 7 claims that seeking to "be as 'objective' when studying humans as one would be if considering a ground squirrel or an ant" was "Darwin's first mistake" (pp146-7), and then calls Darwin (which it occasionally misreads) a racist. Chapter 5 makes the leftwing profession of faith that "inequality is a social construct, not a natural, biologically deterministic pattern" (p119.)
I just wish all the authors in this edited volume had stuck to popularising the science, rather than used the book as a political platform.
Most of the chapters are quite good, especially Michael Ryan's on sexual selection, and the two "dreams" that book-end the volume: Jeremy DeSilva's speculation on what Darwin must have thought of a Neanderthal skull that was brought to him in 1864, and Ann Gibbons' (undramatised) fantasy of a dinner table conversation between Darwin and her colleagues and herself as they visited Down House after a seminar (with Darwin doing all of the listening). The latter was a nice conceit for presenting a century and a half of scientific advances in a dense format.
What disappointed me in the book were the three chapters by feminists and anti-racists (about sixty pages in total), which together make up a kind of Woke counter-attack on Darwin and "the hard sciences and their male-dominated traditions" (p201.) Chapter 9, which deliberatly only cites female scholars, quotes approvingly the following statement: "The idealization of an objective and apolitical science built on rational thought and deliberation has a face, and that face is white and male" (p195.) Chapter 7 claims that seeking to "be as 'objective' when studying humans as one would be if considering a ground squirrel or an ant" was "Darwin's first mistake" (pp146-7), and then calls Darwin (which it occasionally misreads) a racist. Chapter 5 makes the leftwing profession of faith that "inequality is a social construct, not a natural, biologically deterministic pattern" (p119.)
I just wish all the authors in this edited volume had stuck to popularising the science, rather than used the book as a political platform.
June 4, 2021
Although it kept me interested, it was somewhat difficult to switch daily between ape taxonomy, neuroanatomy, morality, paleoanthropology, racism, colonialism, and more. This was actually the first book I have read that is a collection of essays, so it was a unique experience. Behind the great variation of topics by the different authors, the introductions in each essay certainly got repetitive. Several of the authors started off by explaining that Darwin did not talk about human evolution in Origin of Species, but he did come out with a book dedicated to it twelve years later. While this isn’t a bad thing, the chapters also all followed similar structures: discussing what Darwin said, explaining how it was right or wrong, and then catching readers up on more recent studies or discoveries.
Read more: https://sheseeksnonfiction.blog/2021/...
Read more: https://sheseeksnonfiction.blog/2021/...
March 1, 2021
Great book on how Darwin got right and wrong about human evolution. He was wrong on race sex and various other Victorian thinking but he was a product of that time period so he had no idea about DNA and other modern discoveries. The book gives a modern insight on how science has progressed and proved what Darwin got right and wrong on human evolution.
October 3, 2021
«جالبترین مسئله؛ راست و غلط داروین دربارهٔ تطور انسان»، نام مجموعه مقالاتی به سرویراستاری جرمی داسیلوا، استاد انسانشناسی دانشگاه دارتموث است که به مناسبت یکصدوپنجاهمین سال انتشار رسالهٔ مهم هبوط انسان، توسط انتشارات دانشگاه پرینستون منتشر شده است. هر فصل این کتاب بهترتیب به یکی از فصلهای هبوط انسان داروین مربوط میشود و راست و غلطهایی را میآزماید که داروین دربارهٔ تطور و تکامل گونهٔ انسان بیان کرده است. مبنای سنجش را در این کتاب تا حدود زیادی مدارک و مستدلات علمی نوین در عرصهٔ «انسانشناسی زیستشناختی» شکل میدهد. در این کتاب مجموعهٔ متکثری از موضوعات مورد توجه قرار میگیرد؛ از ماهیِ درون آدمها گرفته تا تطور مغز انسان، منشأ اخلاق در انسان و جانوران دیگر، تأملات داروین در باب تطور انسان در نسبت با فسیلهای امروزین، مفروضات ویکتوریایی درباب تمدّن و آنچه داروین را در این زمینه در دام اشتباه افکنده است، جایگاه انسانها میان گونههای نخستی دیگر، راست و غلط مفروضات داروینی درباب نژادها و نژادگرایی، مسئلهٔ زیبایی جنسی و بازنگری در تأملات داروینی پیرامون انتخاب جنسی در انسانها. همهٔ نویسندگان مقالات این کتاب در حوزههای انسانشناسی زیستی و زیستشناسی تطوری فعالاند و ترکیب نویسندگان نیز طوری است که زنان در میان آنها حضور پررنگ دارند؛ نه اینکه فقط نامهای زنانه، بلکه دیدگاهها و تأملات زنانه!! گاهی جملات و محتویات مقالات، علیرغم ادعای سرویراستار آن، تا حد شعارهای زیبا تنزل میکند، و بهخصوص در فصل پایانی، سردرگمی حاکم بر دیرینانسانشناسی آنجا به وضوح نمایان میشود که چندین صفحه با این درونمایه میخوانیم که هفتاد هزار سال پیش انسان هوشمند از افریقا آمد و یکی یکی با دنیسواها، نئاندرتالها و غیره جفتگیری کرد و دربارهٔ منشأ نئاندرتالها و دنیسوونها و کوتاهقدهای جنوبشرق آسیا و افریقای جنوبی نیز سردرگمی وحشتناکی وجود دارد. یکی از دلایل این سردرگمی آن است که گویا، چنانکه از این کتاب برمیآید، حالا این ژنتیک است که خدای اعظم انسانشناسی قلمداد میشود، اینبار به قیمت به حاشیه رانده شدن تاریخ و باستانشناسی! در مجموع، به نظرم میرسد این کتاب یکی از جامعترین و مهمترین کتابهای چندسال اخیر پیرامون منشأ انسان است که جایگاه کنونی دانش در این حوزه را همراه با راست و غلطهایش بهنحوی نسبتاً جامع برملا میکند.
June 25, 2022
As a student of the history of science, interested in Darwin, his life and times, and his theories, and fascinated with complex adaptive systems, I really enjoyed this read. I will also say that a recent trip to the Galápagos significantly increased my enjoyment of this book. With an introduction by the wonderful Janet Browne and edited by Jeremy Desilva, twelve leading scholars of Darwin and his theories describe the things he got right - an amazing achievement given the little in the way of materials he had to work with in his day (particularly fossils and certainly no DNA) - as well as the things that have been proven to be not completely correct. As written in the description the book is a fascinating testament to how scientific ideas are tested and how they build on each other over time. Each chapter begins with a quote from Darwin's The Descent of Man and the book includes a well-developed Notes section for scholars. I particularly enjoyed the last few chapters that dealt with sociological and anthropological ideas. The final chapter Dinner with Darwin by Ann Gibbons was beautifully done.
March 29, 2021
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a great selection of essays which describe what Darwin got right and what he got wrong. Given the often sparse evidence he had to work with, his foresight was despite many flaws very impressive. I was most interested in the chapters on race and gender. They carefully describe the facts but towards the end, they evolve into a call to action aimed at current scientists. Nothing wrong with that, but I would have loved to learn a bit more about how Darwin's background shaped his views and what Darwin's contemporaries had to say about these topics.
September 6, 2023
This book is basically a very long book review. Each chapter is written by a different author who summarizes a particular chapter of Darwin’s Descent of Man. It is a successful synopsis of his ideas, and each modern scientist picks apart which of Darwin’s ideas are proved by modern science, and which ideas are incorrect (such as his racial theory). Definitely a good read if you want a concise summary and honest critique of Descent.
March 3, 2021
Esteemed anthropologist Jerry DeSilva gathered 10 scholars to examine Charles Darwin's Descent of Man on its 150th anniversary. Together they shine a light on the biases that led him astray in some instances, while they celebrate other instances where the evidence has repeatedly affirmed Darwin's remarkable foresight. A great read.
November 19, 2021
I really liked the approach to reviewing Origin of the Species. The book was full of interesting information and judged Darwin quite fairly. This is the kind of book I will read probably several times in the future
September 15, 2022
Biggest regret is that I didn't read this & Descent of Man last year. A fun, approachable celebration of 150 years of thought on human evolution. Chapter 9 was a personal favorite, but all the voices were welcome commentaries and reflections on such a pivotal piece of intellectual history!
March 23, 2023
This is a nice, layperson's book not just to cover the fundamentals of evolution, but also to understand how our understanding of evolution has changed over time (I avoided the pun, you're welcome) and been influenced by societal assumptions.
July 26, 2021
good book
October 15, 2021
I loved the essay from Holly Dunsworth. Some others are OK, but expected a bit more insights.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews