A expressão das emoções no homem e nos animais, de Charles Darwin: algumas considerações

Como é sabido, a obra mais conhecida de Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) é o Origin of species (1859) que teve seis edições. Contudo, ele publicou também outras obras, dentre elas, The expression of the emotions in man and animals (1872). Nesta obra, ele tratou de aspectos comportamentais de antepassados primitivos do homem e outros animais, segundo os mecanismos evolutivos propostos no Origin of species (1859). O objetivo do presente artigo é discutir sobre alguns aspectos relacionados à mesma. Nesse sentido, comentaremos brevemente sobre seu conteúdo, traduções, edições e alguns desdobramentos posteriores. Este estudo levou à conclusão de que The expression of the emotions in man and animals foi relevante no conjunto de obras de Darwin, considerando a grande quantidade de impressões e traduções para os diferentes idiomas dessa obra. Além disso, levando em conta a repercussão das ideias nela contidas em estudos posteriores como aqueles feitos por Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) e Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907-1988) e suas contribuições para a emergência da disciplina Etologia, voltada ao estudo do comportamento animal, na década de 1960.

Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach’’: A Depiction of Victorian Doubt and Faith

Dissatisfied with his age Arnold turned towards Greek Culture and literature. Victorian age was an age of doubt and faith. Religious faith were in melting pot. Darwin’s ‘Origin Of Species’ (1859) shook the Victorian faith. Darwin questioned the very basic statement of ‘The Holy Bible’. Arnold considered literature as a weapon to established the broken faith of Victorians. He took Greek literature as reference to write literature. Arnold keenly observed Greek art and culture and find solace in it. He used Greek Art and Culture as the tool of morality and it has the healing power to wounded Victorian faith. Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach is a poetry of vanished past and vanished faith. Keywords: Reflective elegy, Vanished Faith, Victorian Doubt and Faith, Sea of faith.

Darwin's Argument by Analogy

In On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin put forward his theory of natural selection. Conventionally, Darwin's argument for this theory has been understood as based on an analogy with artificial selection. But there has been no consensus on how, exactly, this analogical argument is supposed to work – and some suspicion too that analogical arguments on the whole are embarrassingly weak. Drawing on new insights into the history of analogical argumentation from the ancient Greeks onward, as well as on in-depth studies of Darwin's public and private writings, this book offers an original perspective on Darwin's argument, restoring to view the intellectual traditions which Darwin took for granted in arguing as he did. From this perspective come new appreciations not only of Darwin's argument but of the metaphors based on it, the range of wider traditions the argument touched upon, and its legacies for science after the Origin.

Angiopteris sugongii (Marattiaceae), a new diploid species with transitional morphology between Angiopteris (sen. str.) and Archangiopteris

A new diploid species of marattioid ferns, Angiopteris sugongii Gui L. Zhang, J.Y. Xiang & Ting Wang (Marattiaceae), with ascending rhizomes, once pinnate to bipinnate laminae and marginal long sori, is identified and characterized from Southeast Yunnan, China. The distinctiveness between the new species and three relatives, A. itoi, A. bipinnata and A. sparsisora, are presented in detail, and a key to 11 species with once pinnate, or once pinnate to bipinnate laminae of Angiopteris in China is provided. Currently, there are three populations with 30 individuals in Daweishan National Nature Reserve and we suggest A. sugongii should be categorized as Critically Endangered (CR) species according to the criteria of IUCN. The discovery of this new species not only provides an important evidence for understanding the evolution of Angiopteris (sen. lat.), but also gives us a key insight into origin of species in the genus.