A 150 Years’ Celebration of Darwin’s Book on Human Evolution and Sexual Selection: Its Legacy and Future Prospects

One hundred and fifty years ago on February 24 (1871), Charles Darwin published ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’. In a letter to Alfred Wallace in 1857, before the publication of ‘The Origin of Species,’ Darwin considered human origins “the highest and most interesting problem for the naturalist.” In the ‘The Origin of Species,’ Darwin wrote that “light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history” and that “psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation”. Darwin not only envisioned that, but also made important contributions concerning the human mind and evolution.

What was initially meant to be one chapter of ‘The variation of animals and plants under domestication’ (1866), ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’ became substantial enough to be a standalone two volume book about human evolution and sexual selection. The book offered a fruitful and comparative research program on human evolution and sexual selection that, despite criticisms, has since then evolved and led to a myriad of studies, discoveries, and progress.

This Research Topic aims to discuss Darwin’s 1871 ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex,’ its legacy and future directions (particularly in respect to the human mind and behavior), its evolution, and the role of sexual selection. To be considered for this Research Topic, manuscripts should explicitly address Darwin’s 1871 ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’ and include one or more of the following themes:

• Human evolution;
• Human body, mind, and behavior;
• Non-human animal comparison, and/or
• Sexual selection.

We welcome all kinds of contributions: empirical, theoretical, reviews, and opinions focusing directly or indirectly on the contents and importance of Darwin’s book. We also invite articles fostering integration and progress in the fields carrying the legacy of Darwin’s publications, namely Evolutionary Psychology, Behavioral Ecology, Darwinian Anthropology, Human Ethology, Cultural Evolution, and others.

This 2021 sesquicentenary celebration of ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’ offers an opportunity to evaluate Darwin’s points and conclusions, to perform a back-to-basics reflection, to recognize where has been made most and least progress, and an opportunity to move beyond the conceptual frames put forward since then.

We would like to encourage the academic societies focused on different perspectives about the evolution of the human mind and behavior to submit an article suggesting how far we have gotten since Darwin’s ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’ and what are the future research directions. Among other possibilities, we also encourage researchers to submit biographical comments about the significance of Darwin and his book to one’s career, and how it has impacted one’s research interests.

This is a historical moment that requires the appropriate celebration and consideration (after all, not many of us will be there in 2071 to celebrate the 200 years of the ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’), however the ideas hereby put forward will certainly survive and flourish.




Image credits: Jaroslava V. Valentova and Marco A. C. Varella