418 THREE CENTURIES' PERSPECTIVESOn the subject of sexual differences, so often a surrogate for
racial attitudes, Darwin writes in The Descent of Man (and with direct
analogy to cultural variation):
It is generally admitted that with woman the powers of intuition, of rapid
perception, and perhaps of imitation, are more strongly marked than in
man; but some, at least, of these faculties are characteristic of the lower
races, and therefore of a past and lower state of civilization. The chief
distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shown by man
attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than woman can
attain—whether requiring deep thought, reason, or imagination, or merely
the use of the senses and hands.Darwin attributes these differences to the evolutionary struggle
that males must pursue for success in mating: "These various facul-
ties will thus have been continually put to the test, and selected
during manhood." In a remarkable passage, he then expresses
thanks that evolutionary innovations of either sex tend to pass, by
inheritance, to both sexes—lest the disparity between men and
women become ever greater by virtue of exclusively male accom-
plishment:
It is, indeed, fortunate that the law of the equal transmission of characters
to both sexes has commonly prevailed throughout the whole class of mam-
mals; otherwise it is probable that man would have become as superior in
mental endowment to woman, as the peacock is in ornamental plumage to
the peahen.Shall we then simply label Darwin as a constant racist and sexist
all the way from youthful folly to mature reflection? Such a stiff-
necked and uncharitable attitude will not help us if we wish to un-
derstand and seek enlightenment from our past. Instead I will plead
for Darwin on two grounds, one general, the other personal.
The general argument is obvious and easy to make. How can we
castigate someone for repeating a standard assumption of his age,
however much we may legitimately deplore that attitude today? Be-
lief in racial and sexual inequality was unquestioned and canonical
among upper-class Victorian males—probably about as controver-
sial as the Pythagorean theorem. Darwin did construct a different
rationale for a shared certainty—and for this we may exact some
judgment. But I see no purpose in strong criticism for a largely
passive acceptance of common wisdom. Let us rather analyze why