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
(/isis/citation/CBB001201840/)
Article
Hoßfeld, Uwe;
Olsson, Lennart;
(2003)
The Road from Haeckel: The Jena Tradition in Evolutionary Morphology and the Origins of “Evo-Devo”
(/isis/citation/CBB000340573/)
Article
Brain, Robert Michael;
(2010)
How Edvard Munch and August Strindberg Contracted Protoplasmania: Memory, Synesthesia, and the Vibratory Organism in Fin-de-Siècle Europe
(/isis/citation/CBB001031062/)
Chapter
Fangerau, Heiner;
(2012)
Monism, Racial Hygiene, and National Socialism
(/isis/citation/CBB001201843/)
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
(/isis/citation/CBB052999110/)
Article
Santos, Guilherme Francisco;
de Carvalho Ramos, Maurício;
(2013)
Ernst Haeckel e a sua Monografia das moneras
(/isis/citation/CBB001214025/)
Book
Caporael, Linnda R.;
Griesemer, James R.;
Wimsatt, William C.;
(2014)
Developing Scaffolds in Evolution, Culture, and Cognition
(/isis/citation/CBB001510224/)
Chapter
Gregory, Frederick;
(2012)
Proto-Monism in German Philosophy, Theology, and Science, 1800--1845
(/isis/citation/CBB001201835/)
Chapter
Viswanathan, Gauri;
(2012)
Monism and Suffering: A Theosophical Perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB001201837/)
Essay Review
Hopwood, Nick;
(2009)
Darwinism's Tragic Genius: Psychology and Reputation
(/isis/citation/CBB001566492/)
Essay Review
Radick, Gregory;
(2009)
[Essay review]
(/isis/citation/CBB001567089/)
Book
Richards, Robert J.;
(2008)
The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought
(/isis/citation/CBB000950269/)
Chapter
Morton, Marsha;
(2009)
Nature and Soul: Austrian Responses to Ernst Haeckel's Evolutionary Monism
(/isis/citation/CBB001031455/)
Book
Weber, Heiko;
(2000)
Monistische und antimonistische Weltanschauung: Eine Auswahlbibliographie
(/isis/citation/CBB000110659/)
Article
Kleeberg, Bernhard;
(2007)
God-Nature Progressing: Natural Theology in German Monism
(/isis/citation/CBB000850279/)
Article
Hopwood, Nick;
(2015)
The Cult of Amphioxus in German Darwinism; or, Our Gelatinous Ancestors in Naples' Blue and Balmy Bay
(/isis/citation/CBB001510262/)
Thesis
Heie, Nolan;
(2008)
Ernst Haeckel and the Redemption of Nature
(/isis/citation/CBB001561319/)
Chapter
Polianski, Igor J.;
(2012)
Between Hegel and Haeckel: Monistic Worldview, Marxist Philosophy, and Biomedicine in Russia and the Soviet Union
(/isis/citation/CBB001201842/)
Book
Marco Tamborini;
(2022)
The Architecture of Evolution: The Science of Form in Twentieth-Century Evolutionary Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB357484390/)
Article
Riegner, Mark F.;
(2013)
Ancestor of the New Archetypal Biology: Goethe's Dynamic Typology as a Model for Contemporary Evolutionary Developmental Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB001320552/)
Science in Context
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Interdisciplinary Science Reviews
History Today
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Be the first to comment!