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Audiobook edition · 12 h 16 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a blush, a shrug or a snarl holds a clue to our animal past?
In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin asks why feelings take visible shape. He watches dogs, cats, horses, monkeys and apes, alongside his own children and people from many cultures. Small movements become evidence in a larger argument about where human expressions come from.
Darwin argues that many expressions begin as useful actions and settle into habit. He builds his case around three principles, then explores grief, joy, anger, fear and surprise. At stake is a question close to every face we meet: how much of our language of feeling do humans share with one another and with animals?
What you’ll discover
- Habits with a history Follow Darwin’s argument that repeated actions outlast the needs they once serve.
- Opposite feelings in motion Explore his claim that opposite states of mind can produce opposite bodily movements.
- Feeling beyond the will Consider how Darwin explains movements that arise from an excited nervous system.
- Faces under strong emotion Look closely at bared teeth, flared nostrils and wide eyes in anger and terror.
- A shared human language Examine Darwin’s case that people across cultures share the same basic expressions.
Who will love it
Readers drawn to psychology, evolution, and the origins of feelings will love this book, as will those fascinated by animals and babies. It suits admirers of close observation and Darwin's curious approach.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Expressions come from evolution, not special design
- Good evidence needs many kinds of observers
- Useful actions become habits that outlive their use
- Opposite feelings produce opposite gestures
- The excited nervous system acts on its own
- Animals show feelings in ways we can read
- Weeping grows out of screaming babies
- Grief writes itself in eyebrows and mouth corners
- Anger, scorn and fear keep traces of our animal past
- Blushing shows how much we care what others think
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L’Expression des émotions chez l’homme et les animaux
by Charles Darwin · 1872
A dog's greenhouse face, a blushing girl and a headless frog help Darwin trace feelings back to our animal past.
Challenging10–20 hours to readfrançais
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In short
What does a dog know that its master does not? Picture a dog marching up to a stranger, stiff and bristling.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Expressions come from evolution, not special design
Before Darwin, most writers held that every species was created just as it is today. Sir Charles Bell taught that human facial muscles were a special provision for showing feeling. Darwin found this unconvincing. Apes carry the same facial muscles, and nobody would say monkeys were given them only to make grimaces.
He praises Dr Duchenne for careful photographs of faces moved by electric current. Yet even Duchenne said the Creator set each muscle moving by divine whim. Such an explanation fits every case, so it tells you nothing and stops the search.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1872
- Language
- français
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Darwin, Charles. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals.
Darwin, C. (2026). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals (Original work published 1872)
Darwin, Charles. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals.
@book{darwin2026expression,
author = {Darwin, Charles},
title = {The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals},
note = {First published 1872}
}
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What is The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals about?
It asks why feelings show in the face and body, and why they look alike across people and animals. Darwin offers three principles, habit, opposites and nervous overflow, and tests them on dogs, monkeys, infants, patients and travelers' reports.
What is the principle of antithesis in Darwin's book?
Antithesis means that a feeling opposite to one with a habitual expression calls out opposite movements, even if useless. His example is a dog that bristles and stiffens when hostile, then crouches and wags when it sees its master.
Did Darwin really use photographs and questionnaires?
Yes. He showed Duchenne's photographs of electrically moved faces to many people and noted their guesses. In 1867 he sent sixteen questions to observers worldwide and received thirty-six answers, which he used to judge which expressions are shared.
The author
Charles Darwin
1809–1882 · English naturalist and biologist
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) was an English naturalist and biologist. He was born in Shrewsbury and lived at Down House in Kent from 1842 until his death. He wrote On the Origin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man (1871), and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872).
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