As Todd Weir observes in the introduction to this volume, the monism of Ernst Haeckel (1834--1919) was a naturalistic worldview based chiefly on the theory of biological evolution. But what, exactly, was the theory of biological evolution, according to Haeckel? And to what extent might the reverse have been true and the theory have depended on the worldview? For the foundations of monism demanded more from evolution than the mere transformation of species, and not all of the competing theories of Haeckel's day could satisfy those demands equally well. In fact, Haeckel rejected some of them quite vehemently for their incompatibility with monism. Some theories were obviously dualistic, in that they posited transcendental plans and purposes to guide evolution or dictate form, and so were unusable. Others had to be rejected because they allowed the mind and the perceived needs of the organism to cause and direct evolutionary change. But Haeckel also rejected some accounts that were ostensibly mechanistic and materialistic in character and intention but violated his monistic strictures in subtler ways. In short, the requirements of monism informed and constrained Haeckel's theory preferences and helped him narrow the field. What he presented in the end as the theory of biological evolution was an interpretation of Darwin's work, carefully crafted not only for its biological and practical merits, but also for enforcing monistic principles. The connection between the theory and the worldview was not lost on Haeckel's critics, who often disparaged the former in order to undermine the latter. In the long run, the 1916 Form and Function, by biologist E. S. Russell has been most damaging.
...MoreBook Weir, Todd H. (2012) Monism: Science, Philosophy, Religion, and the History of a Worldview.
Similar Citations
Chapter
Ziche, Paul;
(2012)
Monist Philosophy of Science: Between Worldview and Scientific Meta-Reflection
Article
Hoßfeld, Uwe;
Olsson, Lennart;
(2003)
The Road from Haeckel: The Jena Tradition in Evolutionary Morphology and the Origins of “Evo-Devo”
Article
Brain, Robert Michael;
(2010)
How Edvard Munch and August Strindberg Contracted Protoplasmania: Memory, Synesthesia, and the Vibratory Organism in Fin-de-Siècle Europe
Book
Keiko Sato;
(2015)
Hekkeru to shinka no fantaji: Ichigenron, ekoroji, keitouju ヘッケルと進化の夢:一元論,エコロジー,系統樹 Haeckel and the Fantasy of Evolution: Monism, Ecology, and the Genealogical Tree
Chapter
Fangerau, Heiner;
(2012)
Monism, Racial Hygiene, and National Socialism
Article
Santos, Guilherme Francisco;
de Carvalho Ramos, Maurício;
(2013)
Ernst Haeckel e a sua Monografia das moneras
Book
Olivier Rieppel;
(2016)
Phylogenetic Systematics: Haeckel to Hennig
Book
Caporael, Linnda R.;
Griesemer, James R.;
Wimsatt, William C.;
(2014)
Developing Scaffolds in Evolution, Culture, and Cognition
Chapter
Viswanathan, Gauri;
(2012)
Monism and Suffering: A Theosophical Perspective
Chapter
Gregory, Frederick;
(2012)
Proto-Monism in German Philosophy, Theology, and Science, 1800--1845
Chapter
Morton, Marsha;
(2009)
Nature and Soul: Austrian Responses to Ernst Haeckel's Evolutionary Monism
Article
Riegner, Mark F.;
(2013)
Ancestor of the New Archetypal Biology: Goethe's Dynamic Typology as a Model for Contemporary Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Book
Marco Tamborini;
(2022)
The Architecture of Evolution: The Science of Form in Twentieth-Century Evolutionary Biology
Book
Weber, Heiko;
(2000)
Monistische und antimonistische Weltanschauung: Eine Auswahlbibliographie
Chapter
Polianski, Igor J.;
(2012)
Between Hegel and Haeckel: Monistic Worldview, Marxist Philosophy, and Biomedicine in Russia and the Soviet Union
Thesis
Heie, Nolan;
(2008)
Ernst Haeckel and the Redemption of Nature
Article
Kleeberg, Bernhard;
(2007)
God-Nature Progressing: Natural Theology in German Monism
Article
Levit, Georgy S.;
Hossfeld, Uwe;
Olsson, Lennart;
(2015)
Alexei Sewertzoff and Adolf Naef: Revising Haeckel's Biogenetic Law
Article
Wegener, Daan;
(2011)
“Das politische Welträtsel”: Ernst Haeckel en het Duitse liberalisme 1859--1900
Chapter
Di Gregorio, Mario A.;
(2009)
Unter Darwins Flagge: Ernst Haeckel, Carl Gegenbaur und die Evolutionäre Morphologie
Be the first to comment!