Man is a Mad Animal
The Question of the Self as Addressed by Darwin and Wallace, Supplemented by Freud and Kierkegaard By Daniel Luc Sullivan
As for…the origin of humans' apparently unique intellectual and physical characteristics – today's evolutionary biologists are satisfied with a biological explanation. To them, even mathematical abilities and musical gifts – just to name two apparently nonadaptive (at least to Wallace) traits – are not beyond the powers of natural selection. However, the widespread persistence of a belief in intelligent design (whether Creationist or not) into the twenty-first century suggests that the conflict between Wallace and Darwin on this issue is far from over. – Ross A. Slotten
Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love all year round, madam; that is all there is to distinguish us from other animals. – Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
The theory of evolution by means of natural selection, upon first receiving widespread recognition in the late 19th Century, had many ramifications. The impact it had on our conception of what it means to be human was not the least significant among them. Philosophers and scientists have considered the question of Man's unique place in the universe since before the time of Socrates; more often than not, this question has been answered through ontological and religious notions of humanity's supreme distinction from, and superiority to, all other life. But the idea that all life has emerged from preexisting forms seems to be at direct odds with such notions. If Man was truly descended from microbial life, how could his superior status be maintained As Sigmund Freud once declared: In the course of centuries the nave self-love of men has had to submit to two major blows at the hands of science. The first was when they learnt that our earth was not the centre of the universe but only a tiny fragment
of a cosmic system of scarcely imaginable vastness…The second blow fell when biological research destroyed man's supposedly privileged place in creation and proved his descent from the animal kingdom and his ineradicable animal nature (1977). The import of natural selection for Man did not go unaddressed by the two brilliant men who proposed the theory. Charles Darwin, the heralded father of evolution, devoted his second best-known work, The Descent of Man (1871), almost entirely to this very topic. And Alfred Russel Wallace, the largely uncredited co-originator of natural selection, broke ranks with Darwin and the majority of their contemporaries in the scientific realm to expound in numerous papers and books his own radically different views on the subject of natural selection in regard to Man. By attacking the riddle of Man's origins head-on from two opposing perspectives, Darwin and Wallace contributed important scientific insight to a question that had previously remained largely philosophical in nature. It is impossible, in light of knowledge gathered over the past 150 years, to discuss the birth of humanity without reference to evolution; however, the striking idiosyncrasy of our human consciousness seems to demand something of the philosopher's approach, as well. In their writings on Man, both Darwin and Wallace played the dual roles of philosopher and naturalist. I believe that they admirably succeeded at both, despite the fact that Darwin is hardly ever considered outside of his naturalist role, and that Wallace's contributions to the study of Man have been almost entirely overlooked. These giants of evolutionary theory complemented existing philosophy with critical scientific information, and paved the way

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