The Descent of Man Summary | Chapterly
The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin: A Complete Summary "The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely that man is descended from some lowly-organised form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many persons." Overview The Descent of Man (1871) is Charles Darwin's most audacious work. In On the Origin of Species (1859), Darwin had carefully avoided the question of human evolution, mentioning only that "light will be thrown on the origin of man." Twelve years later, he confronted the question directly: human beings, like every other species, are the product of evolution by natural selection. We descended from earlier animal forms. We are part of nature, not apart from it. The book is actually two arguments in one. The first half makes the case for human evolution, drawing on comparative anatomy, embryology, and behavioral evidence to show that the differences between humans and other animals are differences of degree, not of kind. The second half introduces Darwin's theory of sexual selection -- the idea that many traits evolved not because they helped survival but because they helped individuals attract mates. The Descent of Man was controversial when published and remains so, in part because Darwin's...