The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought

Robert J. Richards

Nov 2008 · University of Chicago Press

About this ebook

Prior to the First World War, more people learned of evolutionary theory from the voluminous writings of Charles Darwin’s foremost champion in Germany, Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), than from any other source, including the writings of Darwin himself. But, with detractors ranging from paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould to modern-day creationists and advocates of intelligent design, Haeckel is better known as a divisive figure than as a pioneering biologist. Robert J. Richards’s intellectual biography rehabilitates Haeckel, providing the most accurate measure of his science and art yet written, as well as a moving account of Haeckel’s eventful life.

Ratings and reviews

Comprehensive in detail, therefore making it a slow read. But essential for anyone eager to understand European science of the 19th century. And the scope of the exceptional artistic, conceptual, and taxonomic contributions by Haeckel. In short: I can't recommend this book highly. It's been a long time overdue correction of my superficial appreciation for Haeckel's work.

About the author

Robert J. Richards is the Morris Fishbein Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Chicago and the author, most recently, of The Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe, also published by the University of Chicago Press.