The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
1872
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
1872
Darwin believed that when you scowl in anger or smile at a loved one, you are doing something your earliest mammalian ancestors did sixty million years ago. This 1872 work argues that your blush, your frown, the way your eyebrows lift in surprise these are not uniquely human inventions but ancient inheritance from the animal kingdom. Darwin maps six fundamental emotional states happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust and shows how each manifests through the body in ways we share with our fellow creatures. It was his boldest book, tackling what many considered the hardest question in evolutionary theory: whether our most cherished human feelings are truly ours alone or biological gifts from creatures we once shared branches with. Paul Ekman called it the foundational text of modern emotion science. If you have ever wondered why we smile, why we blush, why fear makes our faces pale and anger sets our jaws tight, Darwin has an answer that still provokes a century and a half later.
