Edvard Alexander Westermarck (20 November 1862 in Helsinki – 3 September 1939 in Tenala)[2] was a Finnish philosopher and sociologist.

It was thus natural for Edvard to study there, obtaining his first degree in philosophy in 1886, but developing also an interest in anthropology and reading the works of Charles Darwin.

[6] He was promoted to professor of Moral Philosophy in 1906 and occupied that chair until 1918,[7] when he moved to the Åbo Akademi University in Turku.

He retired in 1932, and spent the rest of his life completing and publishing his major works, Ethical Relativity (1932), Three Essays on Sex and Morals (1934), The Future of Marriage in Western Civilization (1936) and Christianity and Morals (1939), the latter published in the year when he died.

[5] He has been described as "first Darwinian sociologist" or "the first sociobiologist",[10] as well as “an authority in the history of morals and of marriage customs.”[8] He denied the then prevailing view that early human beings lived in sexual promiscuity, arguing that in fact historically monogamy preceded polygamy.