Comparison of the mental powers of man and the lower animals

Summary:

An extended text extract from Chapter 4 of Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, first published in 1871. Here, Darwin compares the mental powers of animals with those of man, arguing “the difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, is certainly one of degree and not of kind”. Darwin further argues that in “lower animals”, characteristics such as love, memory, attention, curiosity, imitation, reason etc may be found in a “well-developed condition”.