摘要：Darwin's early M and N notebooks on Man, Mind and Materialism make clear the important place that the human species played in the formation of his ideas on evolution (Barrett, 1974). In 1838 Darwin wrote "Origin of man now proved. Metaphysics must flourish. He who understand baboon would do more toward metaphysics than Locke[.]" These words were written in the heat of Darwin's most creative period, a few weeks before his first clear statement of the principle of natural selection was recorded in his notebook on The Transmutation of Species. The passage is an expression of hopeful enthusiasm rather than triumph. He was actively pursuing a purely materialistic theory' of organic evolution, and was already committed to the idea that humans would belong under the theory. Given the scope of the theory, it could hardly be otherwise. Right down to the present, the promise and perils of understanding the origins of humans and human behavior have been an unavoidable part of the Darwinian agenda. On the one hand, evolutionary theory, if correct, should provide powerful tools to understand human behavior. On the other, if humans are not understandable in Darwinian terms, perhaps there are deep, general, problems with the theory.
