The Wonders of Life: A Popular Study of Biological PhilosophyHaeckel, Ernst
Philosophy
The Wonders of Life: A Popular Study of Biological Philosophy
Haeckel, Ernst
Biology; Evolution (Biology); Life -- Origin
The monistic conception of the human body and mind, which the theory
of descent has put on a zoological basis, was bound to meet with the
sternest resistance in dualistic and metaphysical circles. It was,
however, also regarded with great disapproval by many modern empirical
anthropologists, especially those who take it to be their chief
task to make as "exact" a study as possible of the human frame, and
measure and describe its various parts. We might have expected these
descriptive anthropologists and ethnologists to extend a friendly
hand to the new anthropogeny, and avail themselves of its leading
ideas, in order to bring unity and causal connection into the enormous
mass of empirical material accumulated. However, this took place
only to a limited extent, The majority of anthropologists regarded
evolution, and especially the evolution of man, as an undemonstrated
hypothesis. They confined themselves to accumulating huge masses of
raw empirical material, without having any clear aim or any definite
questions in view. This was chiefly the case in Germany, where the
Society of Anthropology and Prehistoric Research was for thirty years
under the lead of Rudolph Virchow. This famous scientist had won
great honor in connection with the reform of medicine by his cellular
pathology and a number of distinguished works on pathological anatomy
and histology since the middle of the nineteenth century. But when
he afterwards (subsequently to his removal to Berlin, 1856) devoted
himself chiefly to political and social questions, he lost sight of the
great advance made in other branches of biology. He completely failed
to appreciate its greatest achievement--the establishment of the
science of evolution by Darwin. To this we must add the psychological
metamorphosis (similar to that of Wundt, Baer, Dubois-Reymond, and
others), of which I have spoken in the sixth chapter of the _Riddle_.
The extraordinary authority of Virchow, and the indefatigable zeal
with which he struggled every year until his death (1903) against the
descent of man from other vertebrates, caused a wide-spread opposition
to the doctrine of evolution. This was supported especially by Johannes
Ranke, of Munich, the secretary of the Anthropological Society.
Happily, a change has recently set in. However, my _Anthropogeny_
has remained for thirty years the only work of its kind--namely, a
comprehensive treatment of man's ancestral history, especially in the
light of embryology.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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