Search results for "Evolutionism"
showing 10 items of 12 documents
A reconciliation with Darwin? Divergent views on evolutionism in Erich Wasmann and Jaime Pujiula, biologists and Jesuits
2016
A diferencia del cas Galileu, l’esglesia Catolica ha gestionat amb discrecio el pensament evolucionista i les obres de Charles Darwin. Entre els cientifics catolics, hi trobem defensors d’un evolucionisme amanit amb remarcables excepcions relacionades amb l’origen divi de la vida i de l’especie humana. L’entomoleg i jesuita Erich Wasmann arriba a la conclusio que la teoria evolutiva podia donar explicacio a les seues observacions sobre els mirmecofils i adopta un evolucionisme catolicament matisat que Ernst Haeckel considerava fraudulent pero molt perillos. El bioleg i jesuita catala Jaume Pujiula segui l’obra de Wasmann tot i prenent posicions ideologiques mes radicals que la de l’entomole…
Repercussions of Evolutionism in the Spanish Natural History Society
2001
In 1871, during the markedly libe ral environment created by the Sexennial Revolution (1868-1874), the Spanish Natural History Society (SEHN) was founded) It was established at the instigation of an active group of naturalists whose primary objectives were to promote the study of Natural History in Spain, discuss the most relevant problems relating to this discipline, and have a vehicle through which to publish their work. This early initiative was highly successful, with the number of members in the first three decades fluctuating between 290-300 and, in some years, exceeding four hundred. University professors and teachers from the Faculties of Science, Medicine and Pharmacy; researchers …
Preference, Rationality and Interindividual Variation: The Persisting Debate About Female Choice
2015
Contemporary research on sexual selection remains deeply influenced by the controversy between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace about the true nature and importance of female choice. After briefly reviewing the main points of disagreement between the two famous evolutionists, I discuss some methodological issues relevant to the contemporary study of female choice. I first use some recent controversy about sexual selection in the Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus, to illustrate several recurring problems and shortcomings in the empirical study of female preference for male characters. I then address the empirical evidence for rationality in female choice, and discuss how the recently em…
Spanish Darwinian iconography: Darwin and evolutionism portrayed in Spanish press cartoons.
2013
The theory of evolution has played a major role in the press since it was put forward by Charles Darwin in 1859. Its key role in biology and human philosophy is reflected by its presence in press cartoons, sections where the image of social reality is depicted in a more direct and satirical light. Through cartoons, artists have used their ingenuity or wit to portray one of the most controversial scientific figures of the past two centuries. This study examines the views portrayed by Spanish cartoonists about Charles Darwin and evolutionary theory in 2009, the bicentenary of the naturalist’s birth and the celebration of 150 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species. These cart…
Hybridization as Speciation? The Viewpoint of Greek Folk Biology (and Aristotle) on the Mutation of Species
2008
Modern evolutionary biologists, as for example Michael Arnold, attest that hybridizations could have a strong creative force in organismal evolution. Such an idea was considered as blasphemous by 19th century critics on evolutionism, and did not entirely convince Charles Darwin himself, but it would not have surprised the ancient Greeks and Romans, who knew that inter-specific couplings gave birth to new species. These new species, however, were considered as products of a process of "adulteration" or "involution", rather than "evolution".
Should the teaching of biological evolution include the origin of life?
2010
The development of mainstream research on the origin of life as an outcome of Darwinian evolution is discussed. It is argued that prebiotic evolution and the origin of life should not be excluded from the syllabus and should be part of classes on biological evolution, and that the transition from non-living to living matter is best understood when seen as part of evolutionary biology. The wide acceptance of evolutionary approaches to the study of the emergence of life in European and Latin American countries is discussed.
El nacimiento de la historiografia musical en Italia durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y los problemas del metodo historico
2015
The article explains the role, the scope and the methods of the 19th-Century music historiography in Italy in comparison to positivism, which fostered a scientific methodology to reshape history of arts and literature. Aiming to discover the value and the ideal place of musical oeuvre, some historiographers described the periodization by means of different paradigms and philosophies, drawn from the theory of evolution of Darwin and Spencer, and the positivism of Hyppolite Taine. Some essays, such as "L’evoluzione nella musica" (1898, 1911 enlarged ed.) and the monograph "Riccardo Wagner" (1890), written by Oscar Chilesotti and Luigi Torchi, are examined at the light of those philosophies. I…
What Was Synthetic Biology?
2014
The desire to make life is not new. Mythology and history provide numerous examples of this Promethean longing. Materialist and evolutionist scientists over a century ago were convinced of the possibility and even the need to synthesize living beings to advance the knowledge on the nature and origin of life. The premature synthetic biology attempts by Stephane Leduc and Alfonso L. Herrera reflected the mechanistic ideal in biology of Jacques Loeb. The book “La biologie synthetique” by Leduc (1912) clearly defines the efforts of these pioneers: “Why is it less acceptable to seek how to make a cell than how to make a molecule?” Journalists have presented many advances in biology in the past c…
Charles Darwin and ideology : rethinking the Darwinian revolution
2016
This short paper critiques the idea of any coherent Darwinian ideology. Charles Darwin himself did not adopt any obvious ideology, except perhaps that of anti-slavery. However, his published work, and that of other evolutionists, led to the emergence of social Darwinism. Herbert Spencer’s role in fostering social Darwinism, and the rise of eugenics, are briefly described. The connection, if any, between the historical figure of Darwin and the social movement that bears his name is discussed. While Darwin’s On the origin of species or The descent of man can hardly account for all the racial stereotyping, nationalism, or political bigotry seen in the half century after his death, there can be…
‘Happy amicable co-operation’: mutual aid, anarchism and the image of the bee in the work of Louisa Sarah Bevington
2017
AbstractThe poet and political activist Louisa Sarah Bevington has been largely ignored in accounts of late Victorian literary and cultural history, even though her work presents a singular nexus of scientific, socio-cultural and poetical perspectives. This essay will show how Bevington juxtaposes Social Darwinist interpretations of the theory of evolution, which foreground the idea of human life as a struggle for existence, with the anarcho-communist view proposed by Peter Kropotkin, which foregrounds the human capacity for sympathy and mutual aid as the driving forces in social development. After situating Kropotkin’s ideas within the larger context of anarchist and evolutionist thinking,…