"THE DESCENT OF MAN, AND SELECTION IN RELATIONTO SEX" BY CH. DARWIN: A VIEW FROM THE 21th CENTURY
Sergey Viktorovich Glukhov
Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, 51/21, Nahimovsky av., Moscow, 117418, Russia
Keywords: Darwin, Darwinism, neo-Darwinism, sexual selection, natural selection, rasology, races, anthropogenesis
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to show how new research and scientific trends are reflected in the thesis and conceptual framework of Charles Darwin's classic work "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex". This work of Darwin deals with the vital issues of his time, which arose mainly after they drew the attention of this brilliant scientist. The evolutionary paradigm required considering a human being not as a divine creature, but as a creation of nature closely related to the animal world. This was done on the pages of the said work. As a taxonomist, Darwin could not help but touch upon the topic of similarities and differences among human races. And, finally, the scientist's attention came to the topic of "sexual selection"; he formulated it entirely by himself at the insufficiency of his previous concept of "natural selection".
|
