Darwin's Unoriginality

It seems to me that Darwin’s most important rhetorical strategy in The Descent of Man is the portrayal of his ideas as unoriginal. Oddly enough, he does not advertise his theory as the paradigm changer it would prove to be, but as old news. From the first page of the introduction, Darwin couches the theory that he is about to offer about humanity’s origins within a general theory that he has already offered, and which has already been widely accepted. He refers first to the work he has done in Origin of Species, emphasizing how established the theory is now that its “views [are] now adopted by most naturalists” (17). Now, he wants to link Descent of Man to his more mature and widely accepted theory. “This work contains hardly any original facts in regard to man,” he claims—odd considering the book’s title and the expectations it naturally created for its first readers to hear, precisely, a new claim about man’s origins (18). Because this is Darwin—not just the acute scientific observer but also the masterful crafter of the prose that structures his theories for a popular audience—we know that he is very carefully choosing his words here. And it’s not difficult to imagine the reason that Darwin would want to downplay the uniqueness of his theory: it allows him to portray Descent as simultaneously less shocking and more credible. Given the controversy of including mankind in his theory of evolution, Darwin’s ingenious approach is to construct his argument as something that his audience has in fact already accepted, something “not in any degree new” (19).

In addition to convincing the reader that he or she has already accepted the general theory upon which this particular incarnation of the theory is based, Darwin also introduces his theory as unoriginal in the sense that other respected scientists have already confirmed it. “Lamark long ago came to this conclusion,” he claims, and he goes on to list, almost as if gathering a defensive army, a host of fellow naturalists who will back him up: “Wallace, Huxley, Lyell, Vogt, Lubbock,” and on and on (19).

This brings me to my second point: that the rhetorical strategy of emphasizing unoriginality is mirrored, formally, in the book’s heavy use of footnotes. The introduction signals that footnotes will be included (19), and the copious footnoting in Descent of Man is notable in comparison to the Origin of Species—not least because of the way it impacts the text’s visual appearance. Flipping through the pages, one is likely to notice, along with the addition of illustrations in Descent, the way that Darwin’s argument in this book is literally undergirded by the smaller prose beneath it. The footnotes provide something of a visual foundation for Darwin’s own prose, a conceptual scaffolding of scientific authority to support his own theory. This support was something Darwin must have decided was more important than receiving credit for originality. While I’m sure he could have footnoted plenty of ideas in Origin, which we know relied upon the prior work done by other naturalists, Darwin seems particularly anxious in Descent to demonstrate that he is merely commenting upon existing, widely embraced ideas.

By stressing the unoriginality, Darwin downplays the importance of his own contribution. As in On the Origin of Species, this intellectual humility has as a rhetorical effect: Darwin’s declared reluctance to publish his theory works as a reason for his readers to listen to what he has to say. The humble, narratorial persona that he constructs for himself is that of the reluctantly vocal scientist, who would really rather not bother to publish his theory until he has “been led” by forces outside of himself to gather his notes and see if they might contain something of interest for his readers.

This rhetoric of humility and unoriginality, along with the formal, footnoted structure of Descent of Man reflect and substantiate the broader point of the theory on which the book is based: that man is not unique. Darwin’s theory is a “general” theory, and man is merely “included with other organic beings in any general conclusion” drawn from that theory’s parameters (17). By applying the theory of evolution to the origin of humanity, Darwin wants his readers to feel that he is suggesting nothing new or interesting but is merely including mankind in the scientific model that describes the origin of all the world’s creatures. Evolution is not unique to man and—when it comes to biological origins —man is not unique.