达尔文从来没有写关于大脑方面的文章，但是达尔文的反对者，Richard Owen认为人与猿类的大脑具有基本的不一样（PS：应该是从这个观点去反对人类的起源）。这个观点激怒了达尔文的继承者（bulldog）赫胥黎。达尔文没有直接回应这个论点，而是让极力支持达尔文理论的赫胥黎在他《人类的起源》（ Descent of Man）第二版中写一章：《on the resemblances and differences in the structure and the development of the brain in man and apes》。赫胥黎在这篇文章中显示人和猿类具有相似的大脑结构，只不过人的大脑更大些，反击了Richard Owen的观点。从此，达尔文继承者开始关注大脑的进化。此次会议主要回顾 从Owen-Huxley debate开始150年来关于的大脑进化相关研究工作，组织杰出科学家在这方面的工作，揭示两个方面的问题，神经系统是怎么和为什么进化成如此复杂？
Darwin never wrote much about the brain, but Darwin’s nemesis, Richard Owen, tried in 1861 to protect humans from Darwin’s threatening ideas by arguing that human brains differ fundamentally from those of other apes. This argument provoked a spirited attack by Darwin’s “bulldog,” T. H. Huxley. Darwin did not comment publicly on this controversy, but for the second edition of his Descent of Man, Darwin asked Huxley to write an essay “on the resemblances and differences in the structure and the development of the brain in man and apes.” This essay was a forceful attack on Owen’s argument and showed convincingly that human brains are like fairly typical ape brains, although larger. Thus the Darwinians began to contemplate evolving brains. This colloquium surveyed what has been learned about brain evolution in the 150 years since the Owen-Huxley debate, bringing together leading scientists whose work illuminates the twin questions of how and why complex nervous systems evolved.
