The tragic sense of life : Ernst Haeckel and the struggle over evolutionary thought / Robert J. Richards.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Richards, Robert J. (Robert John), 1942- author.

Contributor:

University of Chicago. Press, publisher.

Mark B. Adams Emergence of Modern Science Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Haeckel, Ernst, 1834-1919.

Haeckel, Ernst.

Biologists--Germany--Biography.

Biologists.

Zoologists--Germany--Biography.

Zoologists.

Evolution (Biology)--History.

Evolution (Biology).

History.

Germany.

Genre:

Biographies.

Penn Provenance:

Adams, Mark B. (former owner) (Adams copy)

Physical Description:

xx, 551 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Summary:

"Prior to the First World War, more people learned of evolutionary theory from the voluminous writings of Charles Darwin's foremost champion in Germany, Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), than through any other source, including the writings of Darwin himself. Haeckel's books vastly outsold Darwin's in their own time, and today his extraordinary scientific illustrations adorn books, posters, and coffee mugs. Haeckel gave currency to the idea of the "missing link" between apes and man, formulated the concept of ecology, and promulgated the "biogenetic law"--The idea that the embryo of an advanced species recapitulates the stages that the species went through in its evolutionary descent. But with detractors ranging from paleontologist Stephen Joy Gould to modern-day creationists and advocates of intelligent design, Haeckel is better known as a divisive figure than as a pioneering biologist. Robert J. Richards's intellectual biography rehabilitates Haeckel, providing the most accurate measure of his science and art yet written, as well as a moving account of Haeckel's eventful life." "The Tragic Sense of Life examines the intellectual context as well as the intimate experiences and profound convictions that allowed Darwin's message to become almost a religious calling for Haeckel. Far from shying away from the many controversies that marked Haeckel's life and career, Richards engages Haeckel's many challengers and dissenters, whose accusations against him range from the charge that he falsified some of his famous drawings to the supposedly proto-Nazi quality of his biological theories. Reappraising Haeckel's accomplishments, artistic endeavors, many battles, personal relationships, and searing loves, Richards convincingly demonstrates the enormous impact Haeckel had on biology and larger scientific affairs during the last half of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century."

Contents:

Introduction

Formation of a romantic biologist

Research in Italy and conversion to Darwinism

Triumph and tragedy at Jena

Evolutionary morphology in the Darwinian mode

Travel to England and the Canary Islands : experimental justification of evolution

The popular presentation of evolution

The rage of the critics

The religious response to evolutionism : ants, embryos, and Jesuits

Love in a time of war

Conclusion : the tragic sense of Ernst Haeckel.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 513-540) and index.

Local Notes:

Kislak Center copy gifted by Dr. Mark B. Adams in 2018.

Kislak Center Adams copy retains dust jacket.

ISBN:

9780226712147

0226712141

OCLC:

173368350

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description