The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Battle over Evolutionary Theory in Germany

P.I.提议研究并撰写一本书，暂定书名为《生活的悲剧感：恩斯特·海克尔和德国的进化论之战》。在第一次世界大战之前，通过达尔文在德国最重要的捍卫者恩斯特·海克尔(Ernst Haeckel，1834-1919)的大量著作了解进化论的人，比通过包括达尔文本人在内的任何其他来源的人都多。除了进化论思想更受欢迎的传播，海克尔还负责生物学技术方面的重大发展。他培养了许多著名的德国下一代研究人员(例如，理查德和奥斯卡·赫特威格、威廉·鲁克斯、安东·多恩、汉斯·德里施)。与他同时代的人的关系好坏参半：有人喜欢，有人讨厌。他经常与达尔文和T·H·赫胥黎就进化生物学中的一些问题保持联系，并对他们自己的工作产生了积极的影响。海克尔的人类进化论发表于达尔文的《人类起源》之前，构成了英国人对人类思维进化及其在不同社会群体中实现的描述。虽然达尔文采用了胚胎的发展概括了进化史的观点，但海克尔进一步阐述了这一原理，并将其固化在达尔文的使用中。海克尔在这一原理上的工作被他称为生物遗传学定律，他在德国和其他地方卷入了不朽的战斗，并导致了关于他的证据的欺诈指控。海克尔是第一个以系统的方式使用树状图来描述生物体系统发育历史的人。十九世纪后半叶在欧洲和美国各地爆发的科学和宗教之间的战争，至今仍在激烈地战斗，这在很大程度上可以归因于海克尔不断地诱骗传教士和有宗教思想的科学家，尽管莫汉达斯·甘地认为海克尔的工作是困扰印度的宗教战争的解决方案。海克尔既是一名艺术家，也是一名生物学家，他为自己的所有作品画了插图。这些插图对德国被称为Jungenstil的运动产生了显著的影响，可以与我们的装饰艺术相媲美。据称，海克尔的生物学理论促进了纳粹生物学的兴起，许多人，特别是在德国，仍然将残留的种族主义归因于海克尔的影响。毫无疑问，在19世纪下半叶和20世纪的大部分时间里，海克尔对生物学和更大的科学事务的影响。关于海克尔的工作和影响的英文版还没有全面的研究，尽管有一些关于他成就的个别方面的较小研究。除了一些例外，大多数这些英语研究(以及最近的德国研究)对海克尔得出了非常负面的判断，这些判断往往更多地依赖于意识形态，而不是事实。有一些更早的德语研究，但主要是圣徒的血脉。私家侦探S的工作将是研究和撰写一本海克尔的智力传记，同时描绘他生前德国进化论的状况。战略将是特别研究海克尔的个人历史，他的爱，他的恨，他重要的关系，他的艺术天赋，以考虑更多的亲密事件是如何塑造他的进化思想的。这本书肯定会对海克尔的成就做出判断，但判断受制于对历史背景的认识。附录将考虑对历史人物和事件做出道德判断的理由和条件。许多关于宗教和科学的辩论，以及那些声称达尔文理论中普遍存在种族主义的辩论，都在这些争议中操纵了恶魔般的海克尔。S希望，这项研究将改变海克尔的形象，更广泛地说，改变研究这类历史的策略。在最好的结果下，这项研究可能会对上述辩论和科学史学产生一些明智的影响。

The P.I. proposes to research and write a book with the tentative title The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Battle over Evolutionary Theory in Germany. Prior to the First World War, more people learned of evolutionary theory through the voluminous writings of Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), Darwin's foremost champion in Germany, than through any other source, including the writings of Darwin himself. Aside from the more popular spread of evolutionary ideas, Haeckel was responsible for major developments on the technical side of biology. He trained many of the eminent German researchers of the next generation (e.g., Richard and Oskar Hertwig, Wilhelm Roux, Anton Dohrn, Hans Driesch). Relations with his contemporaries was mixed: adored by some, hated by others. He was in constant contact with Darwin and T. H. Huxley about a number of issues in evolutionary biology, and he had a rebounding impact on their own work. Haeckel's theories of human evolution, published before Darwin's Descent of Man, came to structure the Englishman's account of the evolution of human mind and its realization in different social groups. Though Darwin had employed the idea that the development of the embryo recapitulated phylogenetic history, Haeckel further elaborated the principle and solidified it in Darwin's usage. Haeckel's work on the principle, which he called the biogenetic law, involved him in monumental battles in Germany and elsewhere, and generated charges of fraud concerning his evidence. Haeckel was the first to employ, in a systematic way, tree-diagrams depicting the phylogenetic history of organisms. The warfare between science and religion that broke out all over Europe and American during the last part of the nineteenth century and that is still fiercely fought today can largely be attributed to Haeckel.s constant baiting of the preachers and religiously minded scientists, though Mohandas Gandhi believed Haeckel's work the solution to the wars of religion racking India. Haeckel was an artist as well as a biologist, and he illustrated all of his own works. These illustrations had a marked influence on the movement in Germany called Jungenstil, comparable to our art deco. It has been alleged that Haeckel's biological theories have contributed to the rise of Nazi biology, and many, particularly in Germany, still attribute a residual racism to Haeckel's influence. There is little doubt of Haeckel's impact on biology and larger scientific affairs during the last half of the nineteenth century and a good part of the twentieth. There is no comprehensive study of Haeckel's work and influence in English, though there are some smaller studies of individual aspects of his accomplishments. With some exceptions, most of these English studies (and the recent German ones as well) come to powerfully negative judgments about Haeckel, judgments that often rely more on ideology than fact. There are some earlier studies in German, but mostly in the hagiographic vein. The P.I.'s effort will be to research and write an intellectual biography of Haeckel, and simultaneously to depict the state of evolutionary theory in Germany during his lifetime. The strategy will be to examine in particular Haeckel's personal history, his loves, his hates, his significant relationships, his artistic talents, so as to consider how more intimate events came to shape his evolutionary ideas. The book will certainly make judgments about Haeckel's accomplishments, but judgments controlled by recognizing the historical context. An appendix will consider the justification and conditions for making moral judgments about historical characters and events. Many of the debates about religion and science, as well as those alleging an endemic racism in respect to Darwinian theory, have manipulated a demonic Haeckel in those controversies. It is the P.I.'s hope that this study will alter the picture of Haeckel, and more generally the strategy of doing this kind of history. Under the best of outcomes, this research may have some judicious impact on the aforementioned debates and the historiography of science.