Library

The Descent of Man

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) extends the argument of On the Origin of Species to humanity itself. In its first part Darwin marshals evidence that man is descended from earlier animal forms; in the larger remainder he develops the theory of sexual selection—competition for mates and mate choice—as a force shaping the differences between the sexes throughout the animal kingdom and in the human races. Controversial and far-reaching, it placed human beings squarely within the evolutionary story and grounded the study of human origins, emotion, and morality in natural science.

Start readingYour notebookShow in graph

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Part I
   1. Chapter I
   2. Chapter II
   3. Chapter III
   4. Chapter IV
   5. Chapter V
   6. Chapter VI
   7. Chapter VII
3. Part II
   1. Chapter VIII
   2. Chapter IX
   3. Chapter X
   4. Chapter XI
   5. Chapter XII
   6. Chapter XIII
   7. Chapter XIV
   8. Chapter XV
   9. Chapter XVI
   10. Chapter XVII
   11. Chapter XVIII
4. Part III
   1. Chapter XIX
   2. Chapter XX
   3. Chapter XXI
   4. Supplemental Note on Sexual Selection in Relation to Monkeys