Author:
G. Radick Division of History and Philosophy of Science, School of Philosophy, University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. Fax: (UK) 0113 233 3265

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Charles Darwin himself helped to start the debate on language change as a selection process. Here I examine two aspects of Darwin's contribution to this debate. Throughout I emphasize how much Darwin's own views differed from the views of present-day Darwinians. First, I consider the parallels Darwin identified between selection in language change and selection in species change. I argue that Darwin drew attention to these parallels mainly to undermine anti-evolutionist claims of high languages among races in a low state of civilization. Second, I consider the role Darwin attributed to selection in causing the biological changes that produced the power of articulate language in humans. I show that, in his argument on the evolution of the human vocal organs, Darwin combined sexual selection with what many Darwinians today regard as the opposite of selection, namely, the inheritance of acquired characters and habits (“Lamarckian inheritance”).

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    The Cambridge Companion to Darwin , ().

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    The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature , ().

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    The Social Construction of What? , ().

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    Open Fields: Science in Cultural Encounter , () 95 -114 .

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Selection
Language English
Year of
Foundation
2001
Publication
Programme
ceased
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher
Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 1585-1931 (Print)
ISSN 1588-287X (Online)