TL;DR

  • Darwin argued human evolution accelerated significantly once language and social structures emerged.
  • Reputation (praise/blame) became a key selective pressure shaping early human morality.
  • Culture (language, institutions, education, norms) interacts with and often overrides biological instincts as a driver of fitness in civilised societies.
  • Darwin believed substantial evolutionary changes (moral, social) occurred rapidly, within historical timescales (centuries, not eons).
  • He viewed humanity as recently emerged from a “barbarous” state, with traditions and myths preserving echoes of past selection pressures.

Language, Reputation, and Fitness in Early Humans#

Charles Darwin believed that once early humans became social and especially upon developing language, reputation management (the concern for how one is judged by others) became a crucial factor in natural selection. In The Descent of Man, Darwin identifies the “praise and the blame of our fellow-men” as a powerful stimulus shaping moral behavior. He argues that humans’ social instincts (like sympathy) led them to love praise and dread blame, thereby modifying their conduct. Even “the rudest savages feel the sentiment of glory, as they clearly show by preserving the trophies of their prowess… and by their habit of excessive boasting” – behaviors that “would be senseless” if they did not care about others’ opinions. In other words, once communication and group life allowed individuals to evaluate each other, those who sought esteem (or avoided shame) gained a selective advantage within their tribes.

Darwin inferred that this tendency arose very early in human evolution. While “we cannot of course say” exactly how early our progenitors became capable of being impelled by praise or blame, he noted that even dogs appreciate encouragement and blame from others. Thus, a rudimentary sense of social approval likely predated full language, but with language these social pressures intensified. Darwin concluded that “primeval man, at a very remote period, was influenced by the praise and blame of his fellows”, which means that concerns about reputation – essentially a primitive moral sense – were present in humanity’s distant ancestors. This focus on others’ approval became, in Darwin’s view, a key driver of fitness: tribe members who upheld group norms (earning praise) would be trusted and supported, whereas those earning blame might be ostracized or punished. Darwin emphasized that “it is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance during rude times of the love of praise and the dread of blame”, since even a man lacking deep innate altruism might heroically sacrifice himself “by a sense of glory” and thus benefit his tribe. Such actions, motivated by reputation, would inspire others and could outweigh the genetic contribution of merely having offspring. In sum, Darwin saw the emergence of language and social communication as turning the social instincts into a potent evolutionary force: moral behaviors and the management of one’s honor or shame became central to survival and reproduction in human groups.

Culture as a Selective Force: Language, Conscience, and Institutions#

Darwin’s writings repeatedly cast culture – including language, intellect, morals, and social institutions – as a crucial evolutionary force guiding human development. He maintained that natural selection had initially endowed humans with social instincts like sympathy, but that once societies formed, cultural factors began to shape the direction of human evolution. In The Descent of Man, Darwin describes how, over time, the simple social instincts gave rise to the complex human conscience through interaction with cultural circumstances: “Ultimately our moral sense or conscience becomes a highly complex sentiment – originating in the social instincts, largely guided by the approbation of our fellow-men, ruled by reason, self-interest, and in later times by deep religious feelings, and confirmed by instruction and habit”. Here Darwin outlines a gene-culture interplay: our innate instincts provide the foundation, but conscience is refined by reasoning about consequences, by religious or philosophical teachings, and by the education and habits passed down within a society.

Importantly, Darwin argued that social learning and institutions take over as dominant drivers of “fitness” in civilised societies, even as biological evolution continues more subtly. He observed that in “highly civilised nations”, direct natural selection is less intense than among savages (since modern societies do not constantly exterminate one another in war). Instead, differential success comes through cultural means. According to Darwin, “the more efficient causes of progress” for civilised people are “a good education during youth… and a high standard of excellence, inculcated by the ablest and best men, embodied in the laws, customs and traditions of the nation, and enforced by public opinion.” In short, education and social norms (itself a product of language and collective knowledge) largely determine which individuals and groups thrive. Public opinion – essentially the community’s approval or disapproval – enforces behaviors that lead to success. Yet, Darwin is careful to note that even this enforcement by public opinion traces back to biology: “the enforcement of public opinion depends on our appreciation of the approbation and disapprobation of others; and this appreciation is founded on our sympathy, which… was originally developed through natural selection as one of the most important elements of the social instincts.” Thus, cultural evolution (morals, laws, institutions) rides on the back of biologically evolved tendencies (sympathy and social approval).

Darwin also understood language itself as both product and driver of evolution. He cited contemporary philologists who showed that “every language bears the marks of its slow and gradual evolution”, analogous to biological evolution. Language enabled better coordination, transmission of knowledge, and formation of abstract ideas like duty or justice – all of which fed back into selection. For example, shared language allows a tribe to develop a collective conscience and body of tradition that can improve its cohesion and success. In Darwin’s view, once humans developed even primitive language and reasoning, cultural selection began to guide our intellectual and moral faculties. In a notable passage, he speculates that if one clever person invented a new tool or weapon, “the plainest self-interest” would lead others to imitate it; those tribes who adopted useful innovations would spread and replace others. This is cultural progress affecting survival. Even more, tribes with better governance and social cohesion (what Darwin calls the advantages of “obedience” and organization) would outcompete disorderly ones. We see here Darwin’s appreciation that institutions (forms of government, norms of obedience and cooperation) have evolutionary consequences. In summary, Darwin framed human evolution as a two-tiered process: natural selection gave us the capacity for language, social feelings, and intelligence, and then those capacities enabled cultural evolution – in effect, a new selective environment – to take prominence. Human advancement became increasingly governed by ideas, morals, and social structures, which could rapidly change and thus drive evolutionary outcomes on much shorter timescales than typical biological evolution.

Civilization over Savagery: Moral Progress from Barbarous Ancestors#

Darwin was convinced that modern civilized humans are only recently removed from a “savage” state, and that civilization is a thin veneer over an older barbaric nature. He marshaled anthropological evidence to show that all civilised nations were once barbarous and gradually elevated themselves. In Descent of Man, Darwin flatly rejects the view of some contemporaries (like the Duke of Argyll or Archbishop Whately) that early humans began in an advanced, civilised condition and later degenerated. He calls their arguments weak compared to the evidence “that man came into the world as a barbarian” and that apparent cases of degradation are far outnumbered by cases of progress. To Darwin, it was a “truer and more cheerful view that progress has been much more general than retrogression”, with humanity “risen, though by slow and interrupted steps, from a lowly condition to the highest standard as yet attained… in knowledge, morals and religion.” This evolutionary humanism – the idea of moral and intellectual progress over time – permeates Darwin’s interpretation of history.

Crucially, Darwin believed that many moral or psychological changes occurred in the relatively recent past (on the order of centuries or millennia, not eons). He pointed out that certain virtues we now consider fundamental were once absent. For instance, traits like temperance, chastity, and foresight were “utterly disregarded” in early times but later came to be “highly esteemed or even held sacred” as civilisation advanced. This implies a rapid cultural evolution of morality as humans transitioned from tribal societies to large civilizations. Darwin cites the example that no ancient people were originally monogamous; strict monogamy is a recent development in the civilised world【4†L695- L703】. Likewise, the very concept of justice underwent a transformation: the “primitive idea of justice, as shown by the law of battle and other customs… was most rude”, meaning that early societies often settled disputes by combat or revenge rather than by abstract principles. Over time, such crude practices gave way to more refined ethical and legal norms. In Darwin’s words, “the highest form of religion – the grand idea of God hating sin and loving righteousness – was unknown during primeval times.” Early religions were entangled with superstition and did not necessarily promote moral good, whereas later religious thought (in “higher” faiths) incorporated strong ethical elements. All these changes – in marriage customs, justice, and religion – occurred within the span of human history.

By examining “savage” societies and historical records, Darwin felt we could literally see our earlier selves. He notes that “many existing superstitions are the remnants of former false religious beliefs”, preserved even in modern societies. And significantly, Darwin believed that the “standard of morality and the number of well-endowed men” in a society could rise within historical times due to group competition. If one tribe or nation had cultural traits that encouraged more patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, it would “be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection”. History, in Darwin’s view, was a continual series of such struggles – “at all times throughout the world tribes have supplanted other tribes; and as morality is one important element in their success, the standard of morality… will thus everywhere tend to rise.” This is a striking claim: it suggests that within a few generations or centuries, a society with superior “moral constitution” could spread at the expense of others, thereby elevating human moral nature relatively quickly on the evolutionary timescale.

Darwin did acknowledge that progress was not automatic or universal. Some populations stagnated for long periods. He observed that “many savages are in the same condition as when first discovered several centuries ago,”, warning us not to view progress as inevitable. Environmental and social factors had to align for advancement. Nevertheless, the broad trajectory he saw was upward. The “civilised nations,”, armed with science, education, and enlightened institutions, represent a recent culmination of this climb from barbarism. And significantly, Darwin saw no fundamental biological barrier between a “savage” and a “civilised” human – only a difference of degree and culture. The civilized human retains the “indelible stamp of his lowly origin”, as Darwin famously put it, meaning our ancestral legacy of instincts and passions still peeks through the veneer of refinement. In short, Darwin portrays civilisation as a recent layer of cultural evolution built upon a much older base, with the clear implication that our moral and mental faculties can change markedly over a short evolutionary time given the right pressures.

Darwin’s Views on Short Evolutionary Timelines#

One of Darwin’s most intriguing stances is his readiness to accept evolutionary change on surprisingly short timelines when it came to humans. Unlike the slow grind of natural selection over geological epochs, human evolution – especially in mental, moral, and social traits – could, in Darwin’s eyes, occur over mere centuries or millennia. He looked to history and saw natural selection at work within historical time, producing observable differences between peoples. For example, Darwin attributed the rapid rise of the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to selective processes acting in just a few hundred years. “There is apparently much truth,” he wrote, “in the belief that the wonderful progress of the United States, as well as the character of the people, are the results of natural selection; for the more energetic, restless, and courageous men from all parts of Europe have emigrated during the last ten or twelve generations to that great country, and have there succeeded best.” Here Darwin explicitly compresses an evolutionary effect into “ten or twelve generations” (roughly 250–300 years). In that short span, he suggests, a kind of sorting and differential success of personalities had shaped an entire nation’s character – a clear example of rapid evolutionary change driven by cultural migration and competition.

Darwin also considered how quickly fortunes reversed between human groups. He noted that not many centuries ago, Europe was threatened by the Ottoman Turks, yet by his own time (the late 19th century), European powers had far surpassed the Ottoman Empire. In a private 1881 letter, Darwin pointed to this as evidence of natural selection operating in civilization: “Remember what risk the nations of Europe ran, not so many centuries ago, of being overwhelmed by the Turks, and how ridiculous such an idea now is. The more civilised so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence.” He then extrapolated this trend into the future, predicting that “at no very distant date, an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilised races throughout the world.” Indeed, in Descent of Man Darwin had published a similar (and now infamous) prediction: “At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world.” Darwin’s timeframe – “not very distant as measured by centuries” – underscores his belief that a few hundred years is sufficient for significant evolutionary turnover in humanity. These remarks, though disturbing to modern readers, illustrate Darwin’s logic that technological and social advantages (a product of culture) translate quickly into reproductive and survival advantages on a global scale. He saw the power of civilization as so great that it would rapidly (in evolutionary terms) replace less “civilized” lifestyles, just as fitter varieties replace weaker ones in nature.

It’s important to note that Darwin did not view such processes as entirely benign. He was aware that civilisation altered or relaxed some pressures of natural selection as well. In Descent, he observed that in civilized societies, the weak and infirm are often protected rather than eliminated, and “we do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick… and vaccinate to preserve life”, etc. He acknowledged that “excepting in the case of man himself, hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed”. This meant that natural selection’s action was impeded, potentially allowing the “degeneration” of certain traits. However, Darwin did not advocate abandoning compassion; instead, he argued that the impulse to help the helpless is an outgrowth of our social instincts, and “to bear the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind” is simply a price we pay for our noblest part, sympathy. The upshot is that even in cases where natural selection slowed, cultural forces (like ethics and compassion) intervened, themselves becoming evolutionary factors.

Overall, Darwin’s assumptions about timeline were bold: he was willing to interpret differences among human groups as the product of only dozens of generations of selection. Whether discussing the emergence of a more energetic American people, the decline of an empire, or the potential extinction of tribal societies, Darwin consistently emphasized how quickly evolution could act when driven by intense competition or novel environments. Human evolution, in his view, did not stop in the distant past – it was ongoing and accelerated by the very changes (migration, warfare, social structure) that define human history.

Traditions and Myths as Vestiges of Barbarous Selection Pressures#

Darwin believed that cultural traditions and ancient myths often preserve echoes of our barbaric past, including the brutal selection pressures early humans faced. In his survey of evidence that civilized peoples descended from savages, he points to “clear traces of their former low condition in still-existing customs, beliefs, language, etc.” Many customs that persist as ritual or story were, according to Darwin, once literal practices in an earlier age. For example, Darwin (drawing on the work of anthropologists like J. F. McLennan) notes that “almost all civilised nations still retain traces of such rude habits as the forcible capture of wives”. In modern marriage ceremonies or folklore there might be vestigial enactments of bride-capture; this hints that in the remote past, wife-stealing and tribal raiding were real and common, shaping the evolution of social behaviors (such as male alliances, aggression, or female choice). Likewise, Darwin asks rhetorically, “What ancient nation can be named that was originally monogamous?” , suggesting that the universal stories of jealous gods and harems, or the polygynous arrangements of mythic heroes, reflect an early polygamous state of human society. The shift to monogamy in many cultures would have imposed new selective pressures (for example, greater paternal investment, or sexual competition taking different forms), and the old myths are a window onto the prior reality.

Perhaps the most striking example Darwin gives is in the realm of religion and morality: human sacrifice, a practice nearly obliterated by Darwin’s time, survives in the stories and scriptures of civilized peoples. Darwin quotes Professor Schaaffhausen’s observation of “vestiges of human sacrifices found both in Homer and the Old Testament”. Indeed, classical Greek epics and the Bible contain hints (such as Agamemnon’s sacrifice of Iphigenia, or Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac) that in earlier times, people did offer human lives to appease gods. Darwin saw these vestigial references as important evidence: they indicate that even our direct ancestors in “civilised” lineages went through a savage phase where such cruel practices were adaptive or normative. For instance, ritual sacrifices might have functioned to unite the tribe or intimidate enemies – exerting selection for certain psychological traits (like fanaticism, obedience, or group conformity) that persisted until newer social norms evolved. The echo of child sacrifice in myths (as in the story of Abraham, which ultimately forbids it but clearly remembers it) suggests to Darwin that “the history of almost every nation presents indications of having passed through a period of barbarism”, where extreme practices were common. Even superstitions and folk beliefs, he writes, “are the remnants of former false religious beliefs”, preserved as cultural fossils. Many taboo customs (for example, ritual cannibalism or infanticide in myth or legend) were likely, in Darwin’s view, once real behaviors that conferred some survival advantage in a harsh environment – perhaps controlling population size or terrifying rivals – and only later were they phased out and remembered with horror.

Darwin’s own theory of sexual selection also found support in cultural vestiges. Myths of heroes capturing brides, or legends of women choosing braves and singers, mirrored what he thought likely happened in prehistory, affecting the evolution of human instincts and even physical differences. He also cites the art of counting as an example of a cultural practice preserving its primitive origins: the fact that we still say “score” for 20 or have remnants of counting on fingers in our number systems shows that early humans literally counted on their fingers and toes. This innocuous example underscores a broader point: aspects of culture can remain long after their original context, acting as clues to the selection pressures of the past. In Darwin’s synthesis, nothing in human nature was inexplicable or “just given” – it had either a current utility or a historical reason for being. Traditions and myths, therefore, were data to be mined for understanding human evolution. They told of a time when behaviors now seen as immoral or bizarre were, in fact, adaptive responses to survival challenges.

In summary, Darwin read human customs as a palimpsest: beneath the surface of our ceremonies, stories, and words lie the faded but decipherable records of “a former low condition”. Practices like bride-capture, blood feud, trial by combat, or human sacrifice have left their marks in cultural memory, and Darwin used those marks to bolster his case that our ancestors lived in a savage state for ages. This deep past, though brutal, set the stage for the rapid moral evolution that followed. By recognizing these vestiges, Darwin showed how gene and culture interacted across time – with old cultural practices shaping biology (through selection of certain traits), and later biological tendencies (like our social instincts) giving rise to new cultural forms.

FAQ #

Q 1. Did Darwin think human evolution stopped? A. No. Darwin believed human evolution was ongoing, accelerated by cultural factors like migration, competition between groups, and the development of social institutions, operating on short timelines (centuries).

Q 2. How did Darwin view the relationship between biology and culture in evolution? A. Darwin saw a gene-culture interplay. Biology (social instincts like sympathy) provided the foundation, but culture (language, reason, norms, institutions) increasingly shaped human development and fitness, especially in civilised societies.

Q 3. What role did reputation play in Darwin’s view of early human evolution? A. Darwin considered the “love of praise and the dread of blame” crucial. Once language allowed social judgment, managing one’s reputation became central to survival and reproductive success within tribes.

Sources#

  1. Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 2nd ed. London: John Murray, 1874. (First published 1871). — Especially Chapters IV and V, which discuss the development of moral sense, the social instincts, and the evidence of humanity’s primitive origins. Darwin’s own words are quoted extensively above, with page references to the 1874 edition (e.g. pp. 131–145).
  2. Darwin, Charles. Letter to William Graham, July 3, 1881, in The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, ed. Francis Darwin, vol. 1. London: John Murray, 1887, pp. 315–317. — In this private correspondence, Darwin reflects on The Creed of Science and argues that natural selection has actively shaped human progress in recent history, citing the triumph of European civilization over others. This letter provides direct evidence of Darwin’s belief in short-term evolutionary change driven by cultural factors.
  3. Darwin, Charles. Letter to John Morley, April 14, 1871, in More Letters of Charles Darwin, eds. Francis Darwin and A. C. Seward, vol. 1. London: John Murray, 1903, pp. 241–243. — Darwin discusses the origin and regulation of the moral sense, responding to Morley’s review in the Pall Mall Gazette. He clarifies his views on conscience as founded in social instincts and influenced by utilitarian standards, which aligns with the role of sympathy and public opinion in moral evolution. (This source sheds light on Darwin’s thinking behind the published text in Descent of Man.)
  4. Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, 1st ed. London: John Murray, 1871. — (Referenced implicitly through the second edition above.) Notably, Chapter VII (p. 225) contains Darwin’s prediction about civilized races replacing savage races. The first edition is the primary source for that oft-cited quote on future extermination of “savage races,” illustrating Darwin’s short timeline projections in a published form. (The second edition retained this passage with minor changes.)

(Note: The paragraph following the source list in the original text summarizing the sources has been omitted as the archetype format does not include it.)