Lect. 2: Darwin and Mental Evolution Flashcards
How would you characterise Huxley’s role in advocating evolution compared to Darwin’s?
- aggressively advocated evolution unlike the reserved Darwin
How did Romanes classify emotions and cognition?
- ranked emotions and and cognition in a linear hierarchy
Who first published a book on human evolution?
Thomas Huxley
What was Huxley’s argument for human evolution based on?
The similarities between the brains of great apes and humans.
What was Wallace’s initial stance on natural selection?
Believed it alone was necessary to explain evolution, discounting Lamarckism and sexual selection, unlike Darwin.
What was Wallace’s position on human mental evolution?
It couldn’t have been driven by natural selection alone. Supernatural intervention was required.
How did Wallace’s views on human mental evolution impact Darwin?
- his belief that supernatural intervention was required for human evolution spurred Darwin to publish The Descent of Man
What was a problem with Romanes’ evidence?
- observations were anecdotal and second hand
How did Romanes determine which organisms had minds?
He believed any organism with a nervous system and the capacity to learn had a mind.
What was Romanes’ relationship to Darwin?
He was Darwin’s intellectual heir.
In which book did Romanes outline his arguments?
Animal Intelligence.
What was Romanes’ view of Lamarckism?
Like Darwin, he allowed a role for Lamarckian inheritance in shaping the evolution of the human mind.
What was Romanes’ Recapitulation Theory?
Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. I.e. development of the individual human mind from childhood to adulthood recapitulates the evolution of the species over millions of years.
In which book did Darwin describe sexual selection and the evolution of the human mind?
The Descent of Man
What was Darwin’s view of sexual selection in human evolution?
It played an important role, both in shaping physical traits like beards and nudity, and in shaping mental traits.
