Wikibooks: The Descent of Man/Chapter III

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: eskimo*
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/The_Descent_of_Man/Chapter_III

Darwin states that the object of this chapter is to show that there is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculty. First of all he discusses the instincts of man and apes. He even suggests that apes in the wild may learn things like which plants are poisonous from other apes. He also mentions how birds on deserted islands appear to inherit a fear of man while the sterile worker bees and ants appear to acquire their instincts spontaneously. Darwin states that people underrate the mental powers of the higher animals and especially of man. He stresses the development of the mental organs through variability and natural selection. He quotes Wallace on the difference between how people learn to make things and how animals learn to make their homes. He comments on animal behavior that show they feel pleasure and pain happiness and misery as well as terror courage and suspicion . Darwin also relates anecdotes about maternal behavior of female animals especially monkeys and shame and playfulness in dogs. In discussing the higher mental faculties Darwin describes animal curiosity the need for stimulation and the abilities to imitate and focus attention. He also makes some questionable statements regarding animal imagination and memory i.e. that animals can judge of the intervals of time between recurrent events and that some dogs howling is the result of fantastic images from their own minds. In discussing examples of reason in animals Darwin mentions anecdotes reported by others of eskimo dogs elephants bears fish and monkeys and related them to his observations of his own children s behavior as infants. He also describes animal toolmaking as reported by many other sources. He speculates that higher reasoning like self awareness evolved from simpler reasoning. And he also comments on animal communication and their ability to understand human languages. In showing the relationship between the development of language and the brain Darwin refers to the writings of contemporaries. ...