Ernst Haeckel

German zoologist and influential advocate of organic evolution. Haeckel grew up in Merseburg, Germany, and initially trained to be a doctor, earning a medical degree in Berlin in 1857. Along the way, however, he decided on a scientific career and studied botany, comparative anatomy, and embryology before settling upon zoology as a discipline. Appointed full professor and director of the Zoological Institute at the University of Jena in 1865, he remained at both positions until his retirement in 1909. During his long career he published numerous important scientific works, principally on the subject of marine zoology, and received memberships and honoraria from more than 90 learned societies around the world.


Haekel’s academic career was just beginning when Charles DARWIN published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Haekel was an early convert to the principle of species transformation. His enthusiasm for evolutionism, however, was colored by philosophical and religious considerations that were not shared by Darwin and, as his critics would note, were not necessarily borne out by the content or evidentiary support for the theory. A monist, Haeckel believed that the world and all it contains, including nature, human beings, and social institutions, were part of a unified and consistent system. He also believed in panpsychism, or a world soul. These commitments in turn led him to promote a number of highly speculative and often controversial scientific concepts, which were later rejected by most mainstream biologists. These included Lamarckianism, the biogenetic law, the Gastraea theory (common ancestry for all metazoans), and Spontaneous Generation. All of these stressed notions of continuity among living organisms or between inorganic matter and organic life that complemented Haeckel’s monistic philosophy. They also supported his view of nature as being intrinsically progressive and hierarchical.


 


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