As bases da indagação darwiniana pelo Homem

Abstract

Since very early, Charles Darwin was deeply involved with the question about man, although he has done a very brief reference to this subject matter in his great work, the Origin of Species (1859 and following editions). Only later Darwin focused on man in The Descent of Man (1871) and in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). Nevertheless, most of the basic ideas of his theory on man were already outlined in his Notebooks M and N (1838 and 1839). As it also happened with the investigation of the other Darwinian themes, his Notebooks, 1836-1844 (especially those from 1837 to 1839) established the research program to which Darwin would dedicate his life. In this article I intend to show not only that the Darwinian man’s vision is consistent with Darwin’s great theory of evolution, whose main points were already presented in his Notebooks, but also that since its first steps his theory on man it was not committed with what became called “social Darwinism”, in the light of which if one social group takes over another one, it would be just justified by ‘the survival of the fittest’.

Desde cedo Charles Darwin incursionou sobre o homem, embora lhe tenha feito muito breve referência em sua obra magna, A Origem das Espécies, e só o tenha propriamente retomado em The Descent of Man (1871) e em The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). No entanto, já em seus Notebooks M e N de 1838 e 1839, Darwin toma ao homem como objeto de profunda indagação. E como aconteceu com os demais temas da agenda darwiniana ao longo de sua trajetória, os Notebooks de 1836-1844 (especialmente de 1837 a 1839) traçaram o programa de pesquisa a que dedicaria sua vida. Neste artigo pretendo mostrar não só que a visão darwiniana do homem é consistente com sua grande teoria da evolução, esteve lá desde seus primeiros passos e não está comprometida com o que veio depois se chamar de “darwinismo social”, onde a imposição de um grupo social sobre outro estaria justificada pelo ‘princípio da sobrevivência do mais apto’.