Sander Gliboff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262072939
- eISBN:
- 9780262273923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262072939.003.0061
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Ernst Haeckel not only promoted, defended, and elaborated upon Charles Darwin’s theory, but also unified biology within a historical framework and developed a practical program of research into ...
More
Ernst Haeckel not only promoted, defended, and elaborated upon Charles Darwin’s theory, but also unified biology within a historical framework and developed a practical program of research into phylogeny. This chapter examines Haeckel’s indebtedness to both Darwin and Heinrich Georg Bronn, his responses to Bronn’s challenges, and his differences from the older morphological tradition. Haeckel read Bronn’s German translation of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1861 and came up with a complete system of evolution, morphology, systematics, and monist philosophy, detailed in Generelle Morphologie der Organismen (General morphology of organisms), five years later. This chapter also looks at Haeckel’s collaboration with Carl Gegenbaur on a program of evolutionary morphology, his introduction to Darwinism in 1860, and his views on adaptation, heredity, creativity, and constraint. In addition, it considers his views on the Gastraea theory and his answers to the arguments of Karl Ernst von Baer regarding species transformation.Less
Ernst Haeckel not only promoted, defended, and elaborated upon Charles Darwin’s theory, but also unified biology within a historical framework and developed a practical program of research into phylogeny. This chapter examines Haeckel’s indebtedness to both Darwin and Heinrich Georg Bronn, his responses to Bronn’s challenges, and his differences from the older morphological tradition. Haeckel read Bronn’s German translation of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1861 and came up with a complete system of evolution, morphology, systematics, and monist philosophy, detailed in Generelle Morphologie der Organismen (General morphology of organisms), five years later. This chapter also looks at Haeckel’s collaboration with Carl Gegenbaur on a program of evolutionary morphology, his introduction to Darwinism in 1860, and his views on adaptation, heredity, creativity, and constraint. In addition, it considers his views on the Gastraea theory and his answers to the arguments of Karl Ernst von Baer regarding species transformation.
Robert J. Richards
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226569871
- eISBN:
- 9780226570075
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226570075.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Historical accounts of the accomplishments of Ernst Haeckel have not been kind. He has been frequently dismissed as derailing Darwin’s theory by focusing only on phylogenetics and systematics, and by ...
More
Historical accounts of the accomplishments of Ernst Haeckel have not been kind. He has been frequently dismissed as derailing Darwin’s theory by focusing only on phylogenetics and systematics, and by even committing fraud in conducting his embryological analyses. He was, with little doubt, a provocative and redoubtable polemicist. Yet he drew to his small outpost in Jena students who would become the most notable biologists of the next generation. His magnetic power resided in his inventiveness as a research scientist and innovator of methods, a scientist willing to push beyond the current horizon. Whereas Darwin, in the German context, had been thought only to argue that evolution was possible, Haeckel set out to demonstrate through experimentation and experimental observation that it was real. Moreover, he would show another side of the evolutionary process by revealing through extraordinary artistic works the beauties of nature – a romantic and even dream-like endeavor. In doing so, Haeckel literally painted new horizons for biology, ones which seemed to his contemporaries, among them Darwin, almost fantastical. Ultimately, however, more individuals learned of evolutionary theory through his voluminous works than from any other author, including Darwin himself. This chapter asks, how and why?Less
Historical accounts of the accomplishments of Ernst Haeckel have not been kind. He has been frequently dismissed as derailing Darwin’s theory by focusing only on phylogenetics and systematics, and by even committing fraud in conducting his embryological analyses. He was, with little doubt, a provocative and redoubtable polemicist. Yet he drew to his small outpost in Jena students who would become the most notable biologists of the next generation. His magnetic power resided in his inventiveness as a research scientist and innovator of methods, a scientist willing to push beyond the current horizon. Whereas Darwin, in the German context, had been thought only to argue that evolution was possible, Haeckel set out to demonstrate through experimentation and experimental observation that it was real. Moreover, he would show another side of the evolutionary process by revealing through extraordinary artistic works the beauties of nature – a romantic and even dream-like endeavor. In doing so, Haeckel literally painted new horizons for biology, ones which seemed to his contemporaries, among them Darwin, almost fantastical. Ultimately, however, more individuals learned of evolutionary theory through his voluminous works than from any other author, including Darwin himself. This chapter asks, how and why?
Jan Sapp
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195156195
- eISBN:
- 9780199790340
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156195.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter focuses on champions of Darwin's evolutionary theory, the most prominent being Thomas Henry Huxley in the UK and Ernst Haeckel in Germany. Topics discussed include man's place in nature, ...
More
This chapter focuses on champions of Darwin's evolutionary theory, the most prominent being Thomas Henry Huxley in the UK and Ernst Haeckel in Germany. Topics discussed include man's place in nature, natural theology and agnosticism, archetype and idealism, ontogeny and phylogeny, and the philosophical and religious implications of Darwinism.Less
This chapter focuses on champions of Darwin's evolutionary theory, the most prominent being Thomas Henry Huxley in the UK and Ernst Haeckel in Germany. Topics discussed include man's place in nature, natural theology and agnosticism, archetype and idealism, ontogeny and phylogeny, and the philosophical and religious implications of Darwinism.
Mark D. Chapman
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199246427
- eISBN:
- 9780191697593
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246427.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, History of Christianity
This chapter examines how the disputes which dominated the theological arena in Germany were mirrored in the philosophical debates with which many theologians were occupied in the first decades of ...
More
This chapter examines how the disputes which dominated the theological arena in Germany were mirrored in the philosophical debates with which many theologians were occupied in the first decades of the 20th century. These disputes include questions about the extent to which religion was sui generis and the extent to which it shared its epistemology with other forms of knowledge. This chapter discusses the theological appropriation of Kantian philosophy by post-Ritschlian theologians, the materialistic or naturalistic philosophy of Ernst Haeckel, and Ernst Troeltsch's criticism on Haeckel's gospel of monism.Less
This chapter examines how the disputes which dominated the theological arena in Germany were mirrored in the philosophical debates with which many theologians were occupied in the first decades of the 20th century. These disputes include questions about the extent to which religion was sui generis and the extent to which it shared its epistemology with other forms of knowledge. This chapter discusses the theological appropriation of Kantian philosophy by post-Ritschlian theologians, the materialistic or naturalistic philosophy of Ernst Haeckel, and Ernst Troeltsch's criticism on Haeckel's gospel of monism.
Sander Gliboff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262072939
- eISBN:
- 9780262273923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262072939.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859 and sent complimentary copies to perhaps a dozen German scientists. One of those who received a copy was Heinrich Georg Bronn, ...
More
Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859 and sent complimentary copies to perhaps a dozen German scientists. One of those who received a copy was Heinrich Georg Bronn, Germany’s most prominent paleontologist, whose research had strangely paralleled that of Darwin. The two men were even consulting each other’s work at times in the 1840s. Bronn’s German translation of The Origin of Species appeared only a few months after the original. This book examines the translation and early interpretation of Darwin’s book and theory and how German Darwinism relates to his own version. It argues that Ernst Haeckel, Darwin’s most famous German interpreter, followed Bronn very closely on important matters of interpretation and terminology concerning Darwinian evolution. In comparing German and British biology and Darwinism, the book juxtaposes Darwin and Bronn, their careers and intellectual commitments, before analyzing the Bronn translation and Haeckel’s use of it.Less
Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859 and sent complimentary copies to perhaps a dozen German scientists. One of those who received a copy was Heinrich Georg Bronn, Germany’s most prominent paleontologist, whose research had strangely paralleled that of Darwin. The two men were even consulting each other’s work at times in the 1840s. Bronn’s German translation of The Origin of Species appeared only a few months after the original. This book examines the translation and early interpretation of Darwin’s book and theory and how German Darwinism relates to his own version. It argues that Ernst Haeckel, Darwin’s most famous German interpreter, followed Bronn very closely on important matters of interpretation and terminology concerning Darwinian evolution. In comparing German and British biology and Darwinism, the book juxtaposes Darwin and Bronn, their careers and intellectual commitments, before analyzing the Bronn translation and Haeckel’s use of it.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198722205
- eISBN:
- 9780191789052
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198722205.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Chapter 11 discusses the neo-Kantian reception of Darwinism, which rose to power in Germany simultaneously with the neo-Kantian movement. It focuses first upon three figures who were especially ...
More
Chapter 11 discusses the neo-Kantian reception of Darwinism, which rose to power in Germany simultaneously with the neo-Kantian movement. It focuses first upon three figures who were especially important in forming the neo-Kantian attitude towards Darwinism: Lange, Meyer and Liebmann. A final section treats the neo-Kantian critique of Ernst Haeckel, the Darwinian apologist, as it appears in the writings of Friedrich Paulsen and Erich Adickes.Less
Chapter 11 discusses the neo-Kantian reception of Darwinism, which rose to power in Germany simultaneously with the neo-Kantian movement. It focuses first upon three figures who were especially important in forming the neo-Kantian attitude towards Darwinism: Lange, Meyer and Liebmann. A final section treats the neo-Kantian critique of Ernst Haeckel, the Darwinian apologist, as it appears in the writings of Friedrich Paulsen and Erich Adickes.
Sander Gliboff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262072939
- eISBN:
- 9780262273923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262072939.003.0072
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This book has examined the texts, the translation process, and especially the intellectual context in which Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was written and interpreted. The result is a very ...
More
This book has examined the texts, the translation process, and especially the intellectual context in which Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was written and interpreted. The result is a very different picture, not only of Heinrich Georg Bronn and Ernst Haeckel but also of the older morphology with which they were associated. This new picture of Haeckel has implications for our understanding of later developments in evolution and evolutionary thought and sheds new light on his conflicts over “mechanistic” and experimental approaches to embryology, particularly with Wilhelm His or Wilhelm Roux, and with August Weismann. Haeckel’s dispute with Weismann to define and defend Darwinism persisted into the twentieth century.Less
This book has examined the texts, the translation process, and especially the intellectual context in which Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was written and interpreted. The result is a very different picture, not only of Heinrich Georg Bronn and Ernst Haeckel but also of the older morphology with which they were associated. This new picture of Haeckel has implications for our understanding of later developments in evolution and evolutionary thought and sheds new light on his conflicts over “mechanistic” and experimental approaches to embryology, particularly with Wilhelm His or Wilhelm Roux, and with August Weismann. Haeckel’s dispute with Weismann to define and defend Darwinism persisted into the twentieth century.
J. David Archibald
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231164122
- eISBN:
- 9780231537667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231164122.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter examines how tree-like representations took on new meanings as an understanding of genetics and the importance of population-based studies emerged. Before Charles Darwin's On the Origin ...
More
This chapter examines how tree-like representations took on new meanings as an understanding of genetics and the importance of population-based studies emerged. Before Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, evolutionary trees of life were a novelty. After Darwin, they became a necessity, thanks to the foundations that he laid for “descent with modification by means of natural selection.” With the turn of the twentieth century, American scientists began to engage in the production and dissemination of phylogenetic trees. The science of paleontology began ascending in stature in the United States, especially in East Coast institutions. This chapter looks at some of the scientists who produced a variety of evolutionary trees guided by Darwin's precepts, particularly Ernst Haeckel. It also considers the trees produced by Max Fürbinger and the decline in audience interest in visual representations of trees.Less
This chapter examines how tree-like representations took on new meanings as an understanding of genetics and the importance of population-based studies emerged. Before Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, evolutionary trees of life were a novelty. After Darwin, they became a necessity, thanks to the foundations that he laid for “descent with modification by means of natural selection.” With the turn of the twentieth century, American scientists began to engage in the production and dissemination of phylogenetic trees. The science of paleontology began ascending in stature in the United States, especially in East Coast institutions. This chapter looks at some of the scientists who produced a variety of evolutionary trees guided by Darwin's precepts, particularly Ernst Haeckel. It also considers the trees produced by Max Fürbinger and the decline in audience interest in visual representations of trees.
Sander Gliboff
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262015141
- eISBN:
- 9780262295642
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262015141.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter analyzes the golden age of Lamarckism in the period from 1866 until 1926. It focuses on Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) and his generation, the generation after them, and the rival ...
More
This chapter analyzes the golden age of Lamarckism in the period from 1866 until 1926. It focuses on Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) and his generation, the generation after them, and the rival evolutionists who continued to refute or reconceive Lamarckism. Some of the nineteenth-century Lamarckians include Theodor Eimer, Edward Drinker Cope (1840–1897), Alpheus Hyatt (1838–1902), and Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857–1935).Less
This chapter analyzes the golden age of Lamarckism in the period from 1866 until 1926. It focuses on Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) and his generation, the generation after them, and the rival evolutionists who continued to refute or reconceive Lamarckism. Some of the nineteenth-century Lamarckians include Theodor Eimer, Edward Drinker Cope (1840–1897), Alpheus Hyatt (1838–1902), and Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857–1935).
Sander Gliboff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262072939
- eISBN:
- 9780262273923
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262072939.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The German translation of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species appeared in 1860, just months after the original, thanks to Heinrich Georg Bronn, a distinguished German paleontologist whose work ...
More
The German translation of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species appeared in 1860, just months after the original, thanks to Heinrich Georg Bronn, a distinguished German paleontologist whose work in some ways paralleled Darwin’s. Bronn’s version of the book (with his own notes and commentary appended) did much to determine how Darwin’s theory was understood and applied by German biologists, for the translation process involved more than the mere substitution of German words for English. This book tells the story of how On the Origin of Species came to be translated into German, how it served Bronn’s purposes as well as Darwin’s, and how it challenged German scholars to think in new ways about morphology, systematics, paleontology, and other biological disciplines. It traces Bronn’s influence on German Darwinism through the early career of Ernst Haeckel, Darwin’s most famous nineteenth-century proponent and popularizer in Germany, who learned his Darwinism from the Bronn translation. The book argues, contrary to most interpretations, that the German authors were not attempting to “tame” Darwin or assimilate him to outmoded systems of romantic Naturphilosophie. Rather, Bronn and Haeckel were participants in Darwin’s project of revolutionizing biology. We should not, the book cautions, read pre-Darwinian meanings into Bronn’s and Haeckel’s Darwinian words. The book describes interpretive problems faced by Bronn and Haeckel that range from the verbal (how to express Darwin’s ideas in the existing German technical vocabulary) to the conceptual.Less
The German translation of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species appeared in 1860, just months after the original, thanks to Heinrich Georg Bronn, a distinguished German paleontologist whose work in some ways paralleled Darwin’s. Bronn’s version of the book (with his own notes and commentary appended) did much to determine how Darwin’s theory was understood and applied by German biologists, for the translation process involved more than the mere substitution of German words for English. This book tells the story of how On the Origin of Species came to be translated into German, how it served Bronn’s purposes as well as Darwin’s, and how it challenged German scholars to think in new ways about morphology, systematics, paleontology, and other biological disciplines. It traces Bronn’s influence on German Darwinism through the early career of Ernst Haeckel, Darwin’s most famous nineteenth-century proponent and popularizer in Germany, who learned his Darwinism from the Bronn translation. The book argues, contrary to most interpretations, that the German authors were not attempting to “tame” Darwin or assimilate him to outmoded systems of romantic Naturphilosophie. Rather, Bronn and Haeckel were participants in Darwin’s project of revolutionizing biology. We should not, the book cautions, read pre-Darwinian meanings into Bronn’s and Haeckel’s Darwinian words. The book describes interpretive problems faced by Bronn and Haeckel that range from the verbal (how to express Darwin’s ideas in the existing German technical vocabulary) to the conceptual.
Sander Gliboff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262072939
- eISBN:
- 9780262273923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262072939.003.0018
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter examines the continuities and discontinuities from pre- to post-Darwinian biology in Germany and situates Heinrich Georg Bronn and Ernst Haeckel in between. It first describes the ...
More
This chapter examines the continuities and discontinuities from pre- to post-Darwinian biology in Germany and situates Heinrich Georg Bronn and Ernst Haeckel in between. It first describes the pre-Darwinian period and shows that early-nineteenth-century German biology was more than just about morphology, and that morphology was more than just about transcendentalism. It then considers the growth and diversification of natural history collections during the nineteenth century, along with the proliferation of comparative studies of anatomy and embryology. It offers a new interpretation of pre-Darwinian (and especially pre-Baerian) thought on evolution and morphology and looks at the common interests between Charles Darwin and the German scientists. In addition, the chapter discusses Bronn and Haeckel’s concern with establishing a Wissenschaft of life as well as their applications of Darwinism; the views of Immanuel Kant and Carl Friedrich Kielmeyer on the complexity of life; Johann Friedrich Meckel’s system of recapitulational embryology; and Karl Ernst von Baer’s work on descriptive embryology.Less
This chapter examines the continuities and discontinuities from pre- to post-Darwinian biology in Germany and situates Heinrich Georg Bronn and Ernst Haeckel in between. It first describes the pre-Darwinian period and shows that early-nineteenth-century German biology was more than just about morphology, and that morphology was more than just about transcendentalism. It then considers the growth and diversification of natural history collections during the nineteenth century, along with the proliferation of comparative studies of anatomy and embryology. It offers a new interpretation of pre-Darwinian (and especially pre-Baerian) thought on evolution and morphology and looks at the common interests between Charles Darwin and the German scientists. In addition, the chapter discusses Bronn and Haeckel’s concern with establishing a Wissenschaft of life as well as their applications of Darwinism; the views of Immanuel Kant and Carl Friedrich Kielmeyer on the complexity of life; Johann Friedrich Meckel’s system of recapitulational embryology; and Karl Ernst von Baer’s work on descriptive embryology.
Frank N. Egerton
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780520271746
- eISBN:
- 9780520953635
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520271746.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
Roots of Ecologytraces the history of ideas and observations about ecology from Plato and Aristotle down to Ernst Haeckel, who named and defined ecology in 1866. The earliest ecological idea was the ...
More
Roots of Ecologytraces the history of ideas and observations about ecology from Plato and Aristotle down to Ernst Haeckel, who named and defined ecology in 1866. The earliest ecological idea was the balance of nature, beginning with Herodotus and Plato, but it was first named only in the early 1700s. Herodotus realized that predatory species have fewer offspring than do their prey species. Plato explained that all species have means of survival that prevent their extinction. Pliny, the Roman author of an encyclopedia entitled Naturalis historiae, included Greek botany, zoology, and geology under that rubric, thus giving rise to a general environmental science that persisted until the end of the 1700s. In 1749, Linnaeus named a somewhat static ecological science, Oeconomia naturae, which extended the balance of nature to include plants. He described the succession of vegetation from bare rocks with lichens to forests. During the early 1800s, zoologists and botanists retained Linnaeus's idea of an economy of nature, but they discussed the possibility of species evolving and some becoming extinct—giving a dynamic dimension to Linnaeus's idea. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection transformed biological sciences, causing Haeckel to elevate ecology to a separate science.Less
Roots of Ecologytraces the history of ideas and observations about ecology from Plato and Aristotle down to Ernst Haeckel, who named and defined ecology in 1866. The earliest ecological idea was the balance of nature, beginning with Herodotus and Plato, but it was first named only in the early 1700s. Herodotus realized that predatory species have fewer offspring than do their prey species. Plato explained that all species have means of survival that prevent their extinction. Pliny, the Roman author of an encyclopedia entitled Naturalis historiae, included Greek botany, zoology, and geology under that rubric, thus giving rise to a general environmental science that persisted until the end of the 1700s. In 1749, Linnaeus named a somewhat static ecological science, Oeconomia naturae, which extended the balance of nature to include plants. He described the succession of vegetation from bare rocks with lichens to forests. During the early 1800s, zoologists and botanists retained Linnaeus's idea of an economy of nature, but they discussed the possibility of species evolving and some becoming extinct—giving a dynamic dimension to Linnaeus's idea. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection transformed biological sciences, causing Haeckel to elevate ecology to a separate science.
David A. West
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813062600
- eISBN:
- 9780813051581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813062600.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Chapter 4 documents Müller’s growing reputation among biological experts, focusing on Ernst Haeckel, Charles Darwin, and Alexander Agassiz. In Generelle Morphologie (1866), Haeckel utilized ...
More
Chapter 4 documents Müller’s growing reputation among biological experts, focusing on Ernst Haeckel, Charles Darwin, and Alexander Agassiz. In Generelle Morphologie (1866), Haeckel utilized considerable material from Für Darwin but misinterpreted it with regard to crustacean phylogeny and its implicit criticisms of Haeckel’s biogenetic law. Müller argued that natural selection can alter every stage of development, thus invalidating the claim that ontogeny exactly recapitulates phylogeny. Darwin immediately incorporated material from Müller’s publications and correspondence into his publications (e.g., into six chapters of the fourth edition of Origin). Darwin understood most of Müller’s views and arguments, including the arguments against Haeckel’s biogenetic law. Their collaboration by correspondence continued until Darwin’s death, leading to major improvements in both men’s research and publications. Müller’s 1863–1868 correspondence with Alexander Agassiz persuaded Agassiz to part with his father Louis’s creationist stance.Less
Chapter 4 documents Müller’s growing reputation among biological experts, focusing on Ernst Haeckel, Charles Darwin, and Alexander Agassiz. In Generelle Morphologie (1866), Haeckel utilized considerable material from Für Darwin but misinterpreted it with regard to crustacean phylogeny and its implicit criticisms of Haeckel’s biogenetic law. Müller argued that natural selection can alter every stage of development, thus invalidating the claim that ontogeny exactly recapitulates phylogeny. Darwin immediately incorporated material from Müller’s publications and correspondence into his publications (e.g., into six chapters of the fourth edition of Origin). Darwin understood most of Müller’s views and arguments, including the arguments against Haeckel’s biogenetic law. Their collaboration by correspondence continued until Darwin’s death, leading to major improvements in both men’s research and publications. Müller’s 1863–1868 correspondence with Alexander Agassiz persuaded Agassiz to part with his father Louis’s creationist stance.
Kirsten Shepherd-Barr
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231164702
- eISBN:
- 9780231538923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231164702.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book examines theater's engagement with evolution from the nineteenth century to the mid-twentienth century. Focusing primarily on British and American drama, it shows how theater provides a ...
More
This book examines theater's engagement with evolution from the nineteenth century to the mid-twentienth century. Focusing primarily on British and American drama, it shows how theater provides a particularly potent and fascinating example of scientific ideas making their way into culture because of its combination of liveness and immediacy, kinetic human bodies in action, and time working on two levels (“real” and “theatrical” time) and because of its sheer variety, from mainstream drama to comedies to street theater and the public lecture; from the expansive epic theater of George Bernard Shaw and Thornton Wilder to the spare minimalism of Samuel Beckett. The stage particularly embraced varieties of non-Darwinian evolution, from Lamarckism to Ernst Haeckel's monism to saltation, often to test scientific ideas in broader cultural contexts and with “a cavalier attitude toward comprehension.” This book considers plays and performances that explore evolution in ways that map onto a specific theme or motif under debate, such as extinction or sexual selection.Less
This book examines theater's engagement with evolution from the nineteenth century to the mid-twentienth century. Focusing primarily on British and American drama, it shows how theater provides a particularly potent and fascinating example of scientific ideas making their way into culture because of its combination of liveness and immediacy, kinetic human bodies in action, and time working on two levels (“real” and “theatrical” time) and because of its sheer variety, from mainstream drama to comedies to street theater and the public lecture; from the expansive epic theater of George Bernard Shaw and Thornton Wilder to the spare minimalism of Samuel Beckett. The stage particularly embraced varieties of non-Darwinian evolution, from Lamarckism to Ernst Haeckel's monism to saltation, often to test scientific ideas in broader cultural contexts and with “a cavalier attitude toward comprehension.” This book considers plays and performances that explore evolution in ways that map onto a specific theme or motif under debate, such as extinction or sexual selection.
Julie Chajes
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190909130
- eISBN:
- 9780190909161
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190909130.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature, Philosophy of Religion
Chapter 6 considers how Blavatsky constructed science as a category and situates this construal within a world in which the boundaries of ‘legitimate’ science were more contested than they are today. ...
More
Chapter 6 considers how Blavatsky constructed science as a category and situates this construal within a world in which the boundaries of ‘legitimate’ science were more contested than they are today. The chapter demonstrates that Blavatsky’s conceptualisations of rebirth owe a considerable debt to the scientific theories under discussion at her time of writing. It explores her debt to the controversial physicists Balfour Stewart (1828–1887) and Peter Guthrie Tait (1831–1909), her hostility towards the popular materialist monism of Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), her hatred of Darwinism, and her preference for theories of evolution influenced by German Romanticism, such as the theories of orthogenesis proposed by Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli (1817–1891), Karl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876), and Darwin’s nemesis, Richard Owen (1804–1892).Less
Chapter 6 considers how Blavatsky constructed science as a category and situates this construal within a world in which the boundaries of ‘legitimate’ science were more contested than they are today. The chapter demonstrates that Blavatsky’s conceptualisations of rebirth owe a considerable debt to the scientific theories under discussion at her time of writing. It explores her debt to the controversial physicists Balfour Stewart (1828–1887) and Peter Guthrie Tait (1831–1909), her hostility towards the popular materialist monism of Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), her hatred of Darwinism, and her preference for theories of evolution influenced by German Romanticism, such as the theories of orthogenesis proposed by Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli (1817–1891), Karl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876), and Darwin’s nemesis, Richard Owen (1804–1892).
Vike Martina Plock
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034232
- eISBN:
- 9780813038803
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034232.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
James Joyce's aesthetic interest in medicine becomes very apparent in the “Oxen of the Sun” episode. This chapter, which Joyce wrote between February and May 1920, cultivates associative readings of ...
More
James Joyce's aesthetic interest in medicine becomes very apparent in the “Oxen of the Sun” episode. This chapter, which Joyce wrote between February and May 1920, cultivates associative readings of the text as a National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street and indirectly indicates the birth of Mortimer Edward Purefoy. It is the first time, therefore, that Joyce chooses a medical institution as a geographic backdrop for an episode. Both the Linati schema and the Gilbert-Gorman plan also designate “medicine” as the episode's art and “the womb” as its organ. Joyce also suggested that the episode's individual parts are linked “with the natural stages of development in the embryo and the periods of the faunal evolution in general.” It has therefore been suggested that “Oxen” adopts Ernst Haeckel's recapitulation theory. In this theory, Haeckel proposed that the fetus in its embryonic development parallels and repeats the evolutionary progress that produced the human race.Less
James Joyce's aesthetic interest in medicine becomes very apparent in the “Oxen of the Sun” episode. This chapter, which Joyce wrote between February and May 1920, cultivates associative readings of the text as a National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street and indirectly indicates the birth of Mortimer Edward Purefoy. It is the first time, therefore, that Joyce chooses a medical institution as a geographic backdrop for an episode. Both the Linati schema and the Gilbert-Gorman plan also designate “medicine” as the episode's art and “the womb” as its organ. Joyce also suggested that the episode's individual parts are linked “with the natural stages of development in the embryo and the periods of the faunal evolution in general.” It has therefore been suggested that “Oxen” adopts Ernst Haeckel's recapitulation theory. In this theory, Haeckel proposed that the fetus in its embryonic development parallels and repeats the evolutionary progress that produced the human race.
David A. West
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813062600
- eISBN:
- 9780813051581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813062600.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
In reaction to Darwin’s On theOrigin of Species, which he read in October 1861, Müller reorganized his ongoing research on crustacea. One result was his Für Darwin, published in 1864, utilizing ...
More
In reaction to Darwin’s On theOrigin of Species, which he read in October 1861, Müller reorganized his ongoing research on crustacea. One result was his Für Darwin, published in 1864, utilizing detailed crustacean research. Müller applied Darwin’s theory of natural selection to crustaceans, yielding some novel predictions, some of which he subsequently verified. Müller showed that crustacean embryology provided a partial guide to crustacean genealogy, demonstrated that genealogical thinking resolved puzzles in the chaotic taxonomy of crustaceans, defended Darwin’s theory against several common objections, and demonstrated its superiority to special creationist alternatives. Darwin responded to Für Darwin with high praise and instigated an English translation of the book. He initiated correspondence with Müller, in which they discussed applications and extensions of Darwin’s theories and directions for further fieldwork. Für Darwin initially drew a generally tepid reception, with severe reviews from some critics. The chapter closes by comparing Müller’s evaluations of Darwin’s theory with those of Ernst Haeckel and August Weismann.Less
In reaction to Darwin’s On theOrigin of Species, which he read in October 1861, Müller reorganized his ongoing research on crustacea. One result was his Für Darwin, published in 1864, utilizing detailed crustacean research. Müller applied Darwin’s theory of natural selection to crustaceans, yielding some novel predictions, some of which he subsequently verified. Müller showed that crustacean embryology provided a partial guide to crustacean genealogy, demonstrated that genealogical thinking resolved puzzles in the chaotic taxonomy of crustaceans, defended Darwin’s theory against several common objections, and demonstrated its superiority to special creationist alternatives. Darwin responded to Für Darwin with high praise and instigated an English translation of the book. He initiated correspondence with Müller, in which they discussed applications and extensions of Darwin’s theories and directions for further fieldwork. Für Darwin initially drew a generally tepid reception, with severe reviews from some critics. The chapter closes by comparing Müller’s evaluations of Darwin’s theory with those of Ernst Haeckel and August Weismann.
David A. West
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813062600
- eISBN:
- 9780813051581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813062600.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
The introduction orients the reader to Darwin’s Man in Brazil and announces some strong claims supported in subsequent chapters. Its key contention is that Fritz Müller (1822–1897 was Darwin’s ...
More
The introduction orients the reader to Darwin’s Man in Brazil and announces some strong claims supported in subsequent chapters. Its key contention is that Fritz Müller (1822–1897 was Darwin’s closest intellectual kin and Darwin’s only correspondent to design tests of Darwin’s theory and some of its applications via field studies on a wide range of tropical plants, animals, and marine organisms. The book traces Müller’s family background, education, and early biological and intellectual commitments to clarify why he was particularly receptive to Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. It then examines how he developed new lines of field work in subtropical Brazil. In contrast with other field biologists and natural historians (e.g., Henry Walter Bates, Alphonse de Candolle, Ernst Haeckel, and Alfred Russel Wallace), Müller, in cooperation with Darwin by correspondence, organized many of his diverse field studies to develop, test, and support the theory of natural selection.Less
The introduction orients the reader to Darwin’s Man in Brazil and announces some strong claims supported in subsequent chapters. Its key contention is that Fritz Müller (1822–1897 was Darwin’s closest intellectual kin and Darwin’s only correspondent to design tests of Darwin’s theory and some of its applications via field studies on a wide range of tropical plants, animals, and marine organisms. The book traces Müller’s family background, education, and early biological and intellectual commitments to clarify why he was particularly receptive to Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. It then examines how he developed new lines of field work in subtropical Brazil. In contrast with other field biologists and natural historians (e.g., Henry Walter Bates, Alphonse de Candolle, Ernst Haeckel, and Alfred Russel Wallace), Müller, in cooperation with Darwin by correspondence, organized many of his diverse field studies to develop, test, and support the theory of natural selection.
Ian Ker
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199601288
- eISBN:
- 9780191806582
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199601288.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter focuses on the controversy between G. K. Chesterton and Robert Blatchford regarding Christianity. In March 1903 in the Clarion, Blatchford challenged Christians to respond to his attack ...
More
This chapter focuses on the controversy between G. K. Chesterton and Robert Blatchford regarding Christianity. In March 1903 in the Clarion, Blatchford challenged Christians to respond to his attack on Christianity following a review of a reprint of an anti-Christian polemic by the zoologist Ernst Haeckel, who used the theory of evolution to justify racism, aggressive nationalism and social Darwinism. Chesterton took up the challenge in the Daily News, using the methodology of hypothesis to justify religious belief and to defend Christianity. Chesterton also challenged Blatchford's determinism and “Calvinism,” contrasting the latter with the “free will of Catholicism” that Chesterton is defending. The chapter also considers Chesterton's book G. F. Watts, which was published in March 1904 and marked his return to art criticism.Less
This chapter focuses on the controversy between G. K. Chesterton and Robert Blatchford regarding Christianity. In March 1903 in the Clarion, Blatchford challenged Christians to respond to his attack on Christianity following a review of a reprint of an anti-Christian polemic by the zoologist Ernst Haeckel, who used the theory of evolution to justify racism, aggressive nationalism and social Darwinism. Chesterton took up the challenge in the Daily News, using the methodology of hypothesis to justify religious belief and to defend Christianity. Chesterton also challenged Blatchford's determinism and “Calvinism,” contrasting the latter with the “free will of Catholicism” that Chesterton is defending. The chapter also considers Chesterton's book G. F. Watts, which was published in March 1904 and marked his return to art criticism.
