Summary
Charles Darwin's *The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals* argues that the outward signs of emotions in humans and animals share common origins and serve similar communicative functions. This work departs from studies of physiognomy, which focus on permanent facial features to discern character, to examine the dynamic, temporary expressions that reveal an organism's internal emotional state. Darwin compiles observations and evidence to demonstrate the biological basis of emotional expression, challenging prevailing views that treated it as purely arbitrary or culturally determined.
The book's central thesis is supported by an analysis of specific emotional displays. By comparing how different species, including humans, manifest feelings like anger, fear, and surprise through facial contortions, bodily postures, and vocalizations, Darwin builds a case for a unified evolutionary account of emotional expression. Readers gain an understanding of how these observable behaviors are not merely incidental but are deeply rooted in the biological history of life, providing insights into the shared evolutionary past of humans and the animal kingdom.
Key concepts
- Expression of emotions — The outward, observable signs of internal emotional states in living organisms.
- Physiognomy — The study of facial features to recognize character, which Darwin distinguishes from his focus on emotional expression.
- Common origins of emotional expression — The idea that emotional displays in humans and animals share a unified evolutionary history.
- Communicative functions of emotional displays — The role of outward signs of emotion in conveying internal states to others.
From the book
Description: Many works have been written on Expression, but a greater number on Physiognomy, - that is, on the recognition of character through the study of the permanent form of the features. With this latter subject I am not here concerned. The older treatises,[1] which I have consulted, have been of little or no service to me. The famous `Conferences'[2] of the painter Le Brun, published in 1667, is the best known ancient work, and contains some good remarks.