Ernst Haeckel The Riddle of the Universe Hackel

Ernst Haeckel The Riddle of the Universe

Hackel Trained as a Physician but abandoned practice after reading Origin of Species l Became a professor of comparative anatomy and intensely studied sponges and segments l Dabbled in anthropology, biology and cosmology l Was accused of falsifying data l

Haeckel II. Was influenced both by the German idealistic tradition and by the works of Darwin Ø Became one of the more vociferous supporters of evolution, but was less supportive of natural selection as the mechanism by which evolution occurred Ø Believed that all species were historical entities (lineages) environment acted directly on organisms, producing new races Ø

Manifestations The survival of the races depends most strongly on their interaction with the environment l His "biogenic theory", suggested that the development of races paralleled the development of individuals. He advocated that "primitive" races were in their infancies and needed the "supervision" and "protection" of more "mature" societies l

The History of Creation (1868) l l "In order to be convinced of this important result, it is above all things necessary to study and compare the mental life of wild savages and of children. At the lowest stage of human mental development are the Australians, some tribes of the Polynesians, and the Bushmen, Hottentots, and some of the Negro tribes. In many of these languages there are numerals only for one, two, and three: no Australian language counts beyond four. Very many wild tribes can count no further than ten or twenty, whereas some very clever dogs have been made to count up to forty and even beyond sixty. "

Theory of Recapitulation the development of the individual of every species fully repeats the evolutionary development of that species l each successive stage in the development of an individual represents one of the adult forms that appeared in its evolutionary history. l Totally wrong but still influential at the time l