Me fail English? That's unpossible!

April 3, 2009 12:19 PM

I have an essay due. I have to write to what extent I agree or disagree with the following sentence: "In The Descent of Man, Darwin noted that human beings, for all their sensibilities and “god-like intellect”, still bear in their bodily frame the indelible stamp of their lowly origin." I'm having ESL problems, because I understand (I think) what each word means, but I don't understand what the sentence put together is saying. Can anyone explain it to me?
posted by shaka, when the walls fell to writing & language (13 comments total)

For all our humanity, we're still beasts.
posted by box at 12:23 PM on April 3

"In The Descent of Man, Darwin said that even though we appear on the outside to be civilized, if you look at our bodies you can see that we are just animals."
posted by Night_owl at 12:24 PM on April 3

It says that even though humans think we're above the animal kingdom, the physiological evidence of our bodies prove that we are a part of the animal kingdom, not separate from it.
posted by forforf at 12:25 PM on April 3 [1 favorite]

My take on it:

Darwin said that, even though people are sensitive and intelligent, you can still see that they come from the apes by their bodies.

Obviously that's a simplification, but it's the gist of it. Note that sensibilities has the older connotation of sensitivity (as in Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen) and not the rational "being sensible" meaning. Also, indelible stamp -- not only can you see it in their bodies, but it cannot be removed. It will always be apparent that humans evolved from lower beings.
posted by katemonster at 12:25 PM on April 3

That was fast! Thank you all!
posted by shaka, when the walls fell at 12:26 PM on April 3

Though we have higher order cognitive functions that monkeys and chimps do not, our bodies still prove that we come from the same ancestors they do and are animals, not special little mini-gods on earth.
posted by jeather at 12:26 PM on April 3

IANAExpert, but I think Darwin is saying that although Humans have minds that are clearly different from animals, their physical bodies show obvious similarities to the bodies of "lower" animals, which indicates that Man descended from lower animals. He's saying that the shape of the human body is obviously related to the animals, which is evidence for the descent of man.

I think modern research increasingly shows that the Human brain is not nearly as different from the brains of other animals as was once thought. But you didn't ask me my opinion.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 12:29 PM on April 3

Specifically to help in the parsing:
"for all their sensibilities and 'god-like intellect" - for all the civilized behavior and superior intelligence.
"still bear in their bodily frame" - physiological (in other words, human biology)
"indelible stamp" - indisputable evidence
"of their lowly origin" - this phrase may be a bit more difficult for ESL people to understand. It assumes that every knows that animals are of lowly origin. So it means, in this context, coming from animals.
posted by forforf at 12:33 PM on April 3

Thank you so much for the extra details, forforf - I was struggling most with those parts, and your comment helped a lot with making them more clear.

My understanding, thanks to all of your comments, is that the sentence is saying: "In the Descent of Man, Darwin said that humans, for all our behaviors (sensitivities?) and intelligence, we still have, and always will have, the biological evidence in our bodies that shows we evolved from lower animals."

That's a lot clearer than my earlier thoughts, which were "...bwuh?"

Thanks again for all your help!
posted by shaka, when the walls fell at 12:41 PM on April 3 [1 favorite]

We think like gods but we look like monkeys.
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:21 PM on April 3 [3 favorites]

I think I would interpret sensibilities to be either "emotional capacity" or "capacity for intellectual and aesthetic distinctions, feelings, tastes, etc." Really, it's what causes civilized behavior. Both sensibilities and intellect are "properties" of the human brain that formerly caused philosophers to classify humans as a separate creation from animals.
posted by muddgirl at 1:23 PM on April 3

Darwin, at the Galapagos, his finches varied.
posted by ooga_booga at 3:57 PM on April 3 [7 favorites]

I thought the statement was less about evidence that we descended from 'lowly' creatures, and more of a "you think you're pretty shit hot because you have wheels and fire and Jeebus, but you're still a monkey at heart, and if you ever have to go without cable TV for longer than a few days you'll be eating each others' brains" thing.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 12:41 AM on April 6