Mental Evolution in Animals
With a Posthumous Essay on Instinct by Charles Darwin
Published on 20. October 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
426 pages
978-1-108-03787-7 (ISBN)
Description
George John Romanes (1848-94), considered by The Times to be 'the biological investigator upon whom in England the mantle of Mr. Darwin has most conspicuously descended', wrote this influential work on the evolution of the mental faculties of animals in 1883. The two scientists were close friends, and Darwin gave Romanes his notes on psychology to use in his studies. Much of the book is devoted to instinct, and contained in the appendix is a posthumous essay by Darwin on the subject, originally intended for a later edition of On the Origin of Species. Romanes' method of using anecdotal evidence over empirical research has been criticised, but this book stands as an influential work in the history of evolutionary biology; it was followed in 1888 by his Mental Evolution in Man (also reissued in this series), which discussed some of the most important issues of nineteenth-century evolutionary psychology.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
1 Tables, black and white; 1 Plates, black and white; 3 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
598 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-03787-7 (9781108037877)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
George John Romanes FRS was a Canadian-Scottish evolutionary biologist and physiologist who pioneered comparative psychology by proposing that humans and other animals share cognitive processes and mechanisms. He was the youngest of Charles Darwin's academic friends, and his ideas about evolution are historically significant. He is regarded to originate the phrase neo-Darwinism, which in the late 19th century was seen as a theory of evolution that concentrates on natural selection as the main evolutionary force. However, Samuel Butler used this term with a similar meaning in 1880. George Romanes was born in Kingston, Canada West, in 1848, as the youngest of three boys from a wealthy and highly developed family. His father, Rev. George Romanes (1805-1871), was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor. Two years after his birth, his parents relocated to Cornwall Terrace in London, United Kingdom, paving the way for Romanes' fruitful and long-lasting association with Charles Darwin. Romanes spent time growing up in Germany and Italy, where he became fluent in both languages. His early education was erratic, taking both in public schools and at home. He developed an early interest in poetry and music, at which he excelled.
Content
Preface; Introduction; 1. The criterion of mind; 2. The structure and functions of nerve-tissue; 3. The physical basis of mind; 4. The root-principles of mind; 5. Explanation of the diagram; 6. Consciousness; 7. Sensation; 8. Pleasures and pains, memory, and association of ideas; 9. Perception; 10. Imagination; 11. Instinct; 12. Instinct (continued) - origin and development of instincts; 13. Instinct (continued) - blended origin, or plasticity of instinct; 14. Instinct (continued) - modes in which intelligence determines the variation of instinct in definite lines; 15. Instinct (continued) - domestication; 16. Instinct (continued) - local and specific varieties of instinct; 17. Instinct (continued) - examination of the theories of other writers on the evolution of instinct, with a general summary of the theory here set forth; 18. Instinct (continued) - cases of special difficulty with regard to the foregoing theory of the origin and development of instincts; 19. Reason; 20. Animal emotions, and summary of intellectual faculties; Appendix. A posthumous essay on instinct by Charles Darwin; Index.