Darwinian doctrine

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Darwinian doctrine
by Chris Burford
03 June 2002 13:41 UTC



Further on in the letter Engels writes

"I should regard the social instinct as one of the most essential factors
in the evolution of humans from apes."

Although this might imply that social factors are not important for apes,
it is perhaps one of those passages Engels wrote in haste.


^^^^^^^^

Charles: Or Engels might not be saying that social factors are not important for apes, but that social factors are even greater with humans than apes, and that they are the essence of the transition for apes to humans.

^^^^^^^^

What is important is the main idea, which is consistent with the importance
he gives to work and to language in human evolution: that we are a social
species, temporarily under the fragmenting sway of capitalist relations of
production.

Chris Burford