1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910967366703321

Autore

Richards Robert J (Robert John), <1942->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, 2008

ISBN

9786611966300

9781281966308

1281966304

9780226712192

0226712192

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (572 p.)

Disciplina

570.92

B

Soggetti

Biologists - Germany

Zoologists - Germany

Evolution (Biology) - History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

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

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Formation of a Romantic Biologist -- 3. Research in Italy and Conversion to Darwinism -- 4. Triumph and Tragedy at Jena -- 5. Evolutionary Morphology in the Darwinian Mode -- 6. Travel to England and the Canary Islands: Experimental Justifi cation of Evolution -- 7. The Popular Presentation of Evolution -- 8. The Rage of the Critics -- 9. The Religious Response to Evolutionism: Ants, Embryos, and Jesuits -- 10. Love in a Time of War -- 11. Conclusion: The Tragic Sense of Ernst Haeckel -- Appendix 1: A Brief History of Morphology -- Appendix 2: The Moral Grammar of Narratives in the History of Biology-the Case of Haeckel and Nazi Biology -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

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 from any other source, including the writings of Darwin himself. But, with detractors ranging from paleontologist Stephen Jay 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.