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The Evolution Of Man: A Popular Scientific Study; Volumes 1-2
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392 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2010
About the author
Ernst Haeckel
971 books128 followersErnst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (February 16, 1834 – August 9, 1919), also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, stem cell, and the kingdom Protista. Haeckel promoted and popularized Charles Darwin's work in Germany and developed the controversial recapitulation theory ("ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny") claiming that an individual organism's biological development, or ontogeny, parallels and summarizes its species' evolutionary development, or phylogeny.
The published artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea creatures (see: Kunstformen der Natur, "Art Forms of Nature"). As a philosopher, Ernst Haeckel wrote Die Welträtsel (1895–1899, in English, The Riddle of the Universe, 1901), the genesis for the term "world riddle" (Welträtsel); and Freedom in Science and Teaching to support teaching evolution.
The published artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations of animals and sea creatures (see: Kunstformen der Natur, "Art Forms of Nature"). As a philosopher, Ernst Haeckel wrote Die Welträtsel (1895–1899, in English, The Riddle of the Universe, 1901), the genesis for the term "world riddle" (Welträtsel); and Freedom in Science and Teaching to support teaching evolution.
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September 27, 2024
THE DEVELOPER OF EMBRYOLOGY SUMMARIZES EVOLUTION, PARTICULARLY WITH RESPECT TO MAN
Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was a German biologist and philosopher, who helped popularize Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He wrote in the first chapter of this 1874 book, "it is an astonishing fact that the science of the evolution of man does not even yet form part of the scheme of general education... [most] 'educated' people do not know that every human being is developed from an egg, or ovum, and that this egg is one simple cell... They are equally ignorant that in the course of the development ... there is first formed a body that is totally different from the human frame, and has not the remotest resemblance to it." (Pg. 1)
He adds, "These two branches of our science---on the one side ontogeny or embryology, and on the other side phylogeny, or the science of race-evolution---are most vitally connected... This is ... most clearly and correctly expressed in the comprehensive law which I have called 'the fundamental law of organic evolution,' or 'the fundamental law of biogeny.' This general law... may be briefly expressed in a phrase: 'The history of the fetus is a recapitulation of the history of the human race'; of, in other words, 'Ontogeny is a recapitulation of phylogeny.'" (Pg. 2)
He asserts, "If all living things come from a common root, man must be included in the general scheme of evolution. On the other hand, if the various species were separately created, man, too, must have been created, and not evolved. We have to choose between these two alternatives. This cannot be too frequently or too strongly emphasized. EITHER all the species of animals and plants are of supernatural origin... as religion teaches; OR the different species have been evolved from a few common, simple ancestral forms, and in that case man is the highest fruit of the tree of evolution." (Pg. 30)
He suggests, "As the human embryo does not essentially differ... when we already perceive the cerebral vesicles, the eyes, ears, gill-arches, etc.---from the similar forms of the other higher mammals, we may confidently assume that they agree in the earliest embryonic processes, segmentation and formation of germinal layers. This has not yet, it is true, been established by observation.... However... no reasonable man will doubt but that the segmentation and formation of layers are the same in both cases." (Pg. 60)
He observes, "All the peculiarities that distinguish the various groups of animals from each other only appear gradually in the course of embryonic development... We may formulate this phenomenon in a definite law... This is the law of the ontogenetic connection of related animal forms. It runs: The closer the relation of two fully-developed animals in respect to their whole bodily structure, and the nearer they are connected in the classification of the animal kingdom." (Pg. 157-158)
He states, "From this anatomic structure of the human tail it is perfectly clear that it is the rudiment of an ape-tail, the last hereditary relic of a long hairy tail, which has been handed down from our tertiary primate ancestors to the present day." (Pg. 160) He later admits, however, that "The recapitulation of phylogeny by ontogeny is only fairly complete in a few cases, and is never whole complete." (Pg. 208)
He concludes, "the older idea of the immortality of the human soul is scientifically untenable. Death puts an end, in man as in any other vertebrate, to the physiological function of the cerebral neurona... the collective activity of which is known as 'the soul.'" (Pg. 280)
He adds, "The resistance to the theory of a descent from the apes is clearly due in most men to feeling rather than to reason... because it hurts man's aesthetic complacency and self-ennoblement... most men would rather have as parent of the race a sinful and fallen Adam than an advancing and vigorous ape... Personally, the notion of ascent is more congenial to me than that of descent. It seems to me a finer thing to be the advanced offspring of a simian ancestor, that has developed progressively from the lower animals... than the degenerate descendant of a god-like being, made from a clod, and fallen for his sins, and an Eve created from one of his ribs." (Pg. 352-353)
For those interested in the history and development of evolutionary thought, this book will be of interest.
Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was a German biologist and philosopher, who helped popularize Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He wrote in the first chapter of this 1874 book, "it is an astonishing fact that the science of the evolution of man does not even yet form part of the scheme of general education... [most] 'educated' people do not know that every human being is developed from an egg, or ovum, and that this egg is one simple cell... They are equally ignorant that in the course of the development ... there is first formed a body that is totally different from the human frame, and has not the remotest resemblance to it." (Pg. 1)
He adds, "These two branches of our science---on the one side ontogeny or embryology, and on the other side phylogeny, or the science of race-evolution---are most vitally connected... This is ... most clearly and correctly expressed in the comprehensive law which I have called 'the fundamental law of organic evolution,' or 'the fundamental law of biogeny.' This general law... may be briefly expressed in a phrase: 'The history of the fetus is a recapitulation of the history of the human race'; of, in other words, 'Ontogeny is a recapitulation of phylogeny.'" (Pg. 2)
He asserts, "If all living things come from a common root, man must be included in the general scheme of evolution. On the other hand, if the various species were separately created, man, too, must have been created, and not evolved. We have to choose between these two alternatives. This cannot be too frequently or too strongly emphasized. EITHER all the species of animals and plants are of supernatural origin... as religion teaches; OR the different species have been evolved from a few common, simple ancestral forms, and in that case man is the highest fruit of the tree of evolution." (Pg. 30)
He suggests, "As the human embryo does not essentially differ... when we already perceive the cerebral vesicles, the eyes, ears, gill-arches, etc.---from the similar forms of the other higher mammals, we may confidently assume that they agree in the earliest embryonic processes, segmentation and formation of germinal layers. This has not yet, it is true, been established by observation.... However... no reasonable man will doubt but that the segmentation and formation of layers are the same in both cases." (Pg. 60)
He observes, "All the peculiarities that distinguish the various groups of animals from each other only appear gradually in the course of embryonic development... We may formulate this phenomenon in a definite law... This is the law of the ontogenetic connection of related animal forms. It runs: The closer the relation of two fully-developed animals in respect to their whole bodily structure, and the nearer they are connected in the classification of the animal kingdom." (Pg. 157-158)
He states, "From this anatomic structure of the human tail it is perfectly clear that it is the rudiment of an ape-tail, the last hereditary relic of a long hairy tail, which has been handed down from our tertiary primate ancestors to the present day." (Pg. 160) He later admits, however, that "The recapitulation of phylogeny by ontogeny is only fairly complete in a few cases, and is never whole complete." (Pg. 208)
He concludes, "the older idea of the immortality of the human soul is scientifically untenable. Death puts an end, in man as in any other vertebrate, to the physiological function of the cerebral neurona... the collective activity of which is known as 'the soul.'" (Pg. 280)
He adds, "The resistance to the theory of a descent from the apes is clearly due in most men to feeling rather than to reason... because it hurts man's aesthetic complacency and self-ennoblement... most men would rather have as parent of the race a sinful and fallen Adam than an advancing and vigorous ape... Personally, the notion of ascent is more congenial to me than that of descent. It seems to me a finer thing to be the advanced offspring of a simian ancestor, that has developed progressively from the lower animals... than the degenerate descendant of a god-like being, made from a clod, and fallen for his sins, and an Eve created from one of his ribs." (Pg. 352-353)
For those interested in the history and development of evolutionary thought, this book will be of interest.
redundant
June 6, 2021Originally published as: Anthropogenie oder Entwickelungsgeschichte des Menschen, 1874
April 24, 2015
More an essay than a book.
I expected this to be a complete look into the evolution of man, but instead it was a very concise explanation of the relationship between the development of a human embryo and the evolutionary history of man. Not what I expected, but very well done.
I expected this to be a complete look into the evolution of man, but instead it was a very concise explanation of the relationship between the development of a human embryo and the evolutionary history of man. Not what I expected, but very well done.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews