Episode Details

Darwin liked to say he had thought of calling his book “the Ascent of Man” - but that that would suggest some idea of progress. Rather what he wanted to do was show that despite the obvious technical advances of past centuries modern people were still at the same moral level, or perhaps slightly worse, than their remote ancestors. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/qSQ9q Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/WjvSY FURTHER READING You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://www.theschooloflife.com/article/charles-darwin-and-the-descent-of-man/ "It is completely understandable that we are often maddened by what might be called ‘normal’ humanity. The way in which emotion so regularly triumphs over careful reasoning; the power of group loyalty, even when the group doesn’t seem to deserve much devotion; the vast mechanisms of status-seeking that drive so much excess consumption; widespread selfishness and indifference to the greater needs of more distant others. And we can find ourselves — in the privacy of our heads, or in the occasional late-night outburst — railing against the fools and idiots who (so unfortunately) seem to occupy so many of the prominent places of power, wealth and influence..." MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on LITERATURE in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLliterature SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-school-of-life-for-business/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Zedem Media http://www.zedemanimations.com Title animation produced in collaboration with Vale Productions https://www.valeproductions.co.uk/

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