Evolution of Mind

Abstract

George John Romanes (1848–1894) was a collaborator with Darwin on instinct, and one of the co-founders, along with Darwin himself and Lloyd Morgan, of comparative psychology.¹ In his multi-volume work Darwin and After Darwin, the last two volumes of which were edited by Lloyd Morgan after Romanes’ death, Romanes was particularly concerned to distinguish the single factor neo-Darwinism of Wallace from the richer, multi-factor theory of Darwin himself. To avoid confusing Wallace’s views with those of Darwin, Romanes coined the phrase “neoDarwinism” to designate Wallace’s position. From this it might appear that Romanes was a strict Darwinian and defended Darwin’s theory in an absolute sense. However, he criticized the view that natural selection was sufficient to explain species origination, and developed the theory of physiological selection to supplement Darwin’s theory. Particularly in his philosophical speculations concerning monism, Romanes was the link between the 19th century debate over the framework for evolutionary theory and Lloyd Morgan.