Edvard Westermarck

Edvard Alexander Westermarck (1862 to 1939) was a Finnish social anthropologist, sociologist and philosopher, and the most internationally prominent Finnish scholar of his time. He is known for his work on the history of marriage and the origin of moral ideas. He was the first to lecture on sociology in both England and the Nordic countries, and he held professorships at the London School of Economics, the University of Helsinki and Abo Akademi University, where he also served as the first rector. He is perhaps best remembered today for the Westermarck effect, the hypothesis that children raised in close proximity develop a natural aversion to sexual relations with each other. In the United Kingdom his first name is often spelled Edward, and his sister Helena Westermarck was a writer and artist.