“Organismic” Positions in Early German-Speaking Ecology and Its (almost) Forgotten Dissidents (2020)
In early German ecology, the key concept used to refer to a synecological unit was Biozönose (biocoenosis). Taken together with the concept of the Biotop (biotope), it was also understood as an integrated higher-order unit of life, sometimes called a “Holozön” (holocoen). These units were often perceived as having properties similar to those of individual organisms, and they informed the mainstream of German ecology until at least the late 1960s. Here I ask how “organismic” these concepts really were and what conceptual problems they entailed. To do so, I focus on some almost forgotten dissident positions, especially those of (German-born) Friedrich Simon Bodenheimer and Fritz Peus, which I contrast with the mainstream German ecology of the time. In a radical paper published in 1954 that postulated the “dissolution of the concepts of biocoenosis and biotope”, Peus in particular elicited a forceful response from many prominent German ecologists. An analysis of the ensuing debate, including especially a colloquium held in 1959 that was partly inspired by Peus’ paper, is helpful for sifting the various arguments proffered with respect to a quasi-organismic perception of the biocoenosis in German speaking ecology. Although German mainstream ecologists rejected the notion of the biocoenosis as a superorganism, ontological holism was quite common among them. Additionally, the mainstream concept of the biocoenosis was plagued by several methodological problems and much conceptual confusion, to which the “dissidents” rightly pointed. Some of these problems are still pertinent today, e.g. in connection with more modern concepts such as “ecosystem”.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Antoine C. Dussault;
(2020)
Neither Superorganisms nor Mere Species Aggregates: Charles Elton’s Sociological Analogies and His Moderate Holism About Ecological Communities
(/isis/citation/CBB989133075/)
Article
Christina Brandt;
(2022)
Vitalism, Holism, and Metaphorical Dynamics of Hans Spemann’s “Organizer” in the Interwar Period
(/isis/citation/CBB709549944/)
Article
Thomas Kirchhoff;
(2020)
The Myth of Frederic Clements’s Mutualistic Organicism, or: On the Necessity to Distinguish Different Concepts of Organicism
(/isis/citation/CBB621023099/)
Book
Petraitis, Peter Steven;
(2013)
Multiple Stable States in Natural Ecosystems
(/isis/citation/CBB001421446/)
Essay Review
Hagen, Joel B.;
(2014)
Emerging Ecologies: Past, Present, and Future
(/isis/citation/CBB001566303/)
Article
Sörlin, Sverker;
(2007)
Ekologins amerikanska historia. Rötter i storstad och öken
(/isis/citation/CBB001220356/)
Article
Latorre, Juan Garcia;
Picon, Andres Sanchez;
Latorre, Jesus Garcia;
(2001)
The Man-Made Desert: Effects of Economic and Demographic Growth on the Ecosystems of Arid Southeastern Spain
(/isis/citation/CBB000101031/)
Article
Lefkaditou, Ageliki;
Stamou, George P.;
(2006)
Holism and Reductionism in Ecology: A Trivial Dichotomy and Levins' Non-trivial Account
(/isis/citation/CBB000774683/)
Book
Höxtermann, Ekkehard;
Kaasch, Joachim;
Kaasch, Michael;
(2001)
Berichte zur Geschichte und Theorie der Ökologie und weitere Beiträge zur 9. Jahrestagung der DGGTB in Neuburg a.d. Donau 2000
(/isis/citation/CBB000101514/)
Article
Jan Baedke;
(2019)
O Organism, Where Art Thou? Old and New Challenges for Organism-Centered Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB054222289/)
Article
Amidon, Kevin S.;
(2008)
Adolf Meyer-Abich, Holism, and the Negotiation of Theoretical Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB001230123/)
Book
Rebecca Mertens;
(2019)
The Construction of Analogy-Based Research Programs: The Lock-and-Key Analogy in 20th Century Biochemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB952794039/)
Article
Geiger, Karin;
(2010)
“Krise”--zwischen Schlüsselbegriff und Schlagwort. Zum Diskurs über eine “Krise der Medizin” in der Weimarer Republik
(/isis/citation/CBB001220592/)
Book
Looijen, Rick C.;
(2000)
Holism and reductionism in biology and ecology: The mutual dependence of higher and lower level research programmes
(/isis/citation/CBB000111084/)
Book
Maharaj K. Pandit;
Peter H. Raven;
Kamal Bawa;
(2017)
Life in the Himalaya: An Ecosystem at Risk
(/isis/citation/CBB002587838/)
Article
Rov, Mira;
(2005)
Environment and Ecology in the Rāmāyaṇa
(/isis/citation/CBB000600466/)
Article
Eliasson, Per;
Nilsson, Sven G.;
(2002)
“You Should Hate Young Oaks and Young Noblemen”: The Environmental History of Oaks in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Sweden
(/isis/citation/CBB000300163/)
Article
Schizas, Dimitris G.;
Stamou, George P.;
(2006)
The Concept of Life and Its Significance in the Construction of the New Ecosystem Ecology of Bernard Patten, Sven Jørgensen and Milan Straškraba
(/isis/citation/CBB000740908/)
Article
Höhler, Sabine;
(2010)
The Environment as a Life Support System: The Case of Biosphere 2
(/isis/citation/CBB001030021/)
Article
Reuss, Martin;
Bernhardtb, Emily;
Bunna, Stuart E.;
Hartc, David D.;
Björn Malmqvistd, Timo Muotkae;
Naimanf, Robert J.;
Pringleg, Catherine;
Wilgeni, Brian van;
(2006)
Perspective: The Challenge of Ecologically Sustainable Water Management
(/isis/citation/CBB001180773/)
Be the first to comment!