Λόγος and Ανθρωπος: a Genealogy

Λόγος and Ανθρωπος: a Genealogy

Audio recording of a lecture given by tutor Ken Wolfe on February 6, 2026 as part of the Dean’s Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean’s Office has provided this description of the event: “In the Origin of Species, Darwin points to analogies between biological and linguistic evolution and classification. How strong are those analogies? Why do they exist? What do they tell us about human evolution? The first part of the lecture will discuss Darwin’s Origin of Species, focusing in particular on his diagram of the ‘tree of life,’ the definition of species, and the relation between species, varieties, and individuals. We shall consider some issues raised in the Descent of Man in order to see how Darwin thought about human nature. It will also include some considerations of more recent discoveries in genetics and how they bear on these questions. The second part of the lecture will focus on linguistic evolution, on both what we know and don’t know about the development and beginnings of language(s). It will discuss in particular the Indo-European family of languages, spoken by nearly half of the world’s population. Are all the world’s languages related? Do they have a single origin? This lecture will end by returning to Aristotle and considering whether his definition of man as the animal with λόγος can still be defended."

Santa Fe, NM

2026-02-06

Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online.

sound

mp3

English

SF_WolfeK_Logos_and_Anthropos_A_Genealogy_2026-02-06

M4A

1:04:00