An Evolutionary View. This book is about the nature of human facial expressions. It provides a scientific account of human faces that squares with modern evolutionary theory. Pre-Darwinian Views on Facial Expression. Pythagoras probably began the scientific study of physiognomy.
First treatise ca.
He did not regard the reading of emotions as particularly important. During the middle ages, Europe turned to the occult and facial features indicated a persons fate rather than temperament. Darwin's Anti-Darwinism in Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Most displays were not evolutionary adaptations, but vestiges or accidents. Expressions had not been selected for communication.