Hans Driesch
Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch | |
---|---|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biology and philosophy |
Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch (28 October 1867 – 17 April 1941) was a German
Early years
Driesch was educated at the
Experiments in embryology
From 1891 Driesch worked in Naples at the
Under the influence of his teacher
These findings suggested that any single
Driesch's results were confirmed with greater precision, and the experiments extended, by Sven Hörstadius who showed that conclusions of equivalence between sea urchin embryonic cells were an over-simplification.
The philosophy of entelechy
Driesch, believing that his results compromised contemporary mechanistic theories of
Driesch was awarded the chair of natural theology at the University of Aberdeen, where he delivered the Gifford Lectures in 1906 and 1908 on The Science and Philosophy of the Organism - the first comprehensive presentation of his ideas. From 1909, determined to take up a career in academic philosophy, he taught natural philosophy at the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Heidelberg. In the ensuing decade he published a complete system of philosophy in three volumes, including his fundamental Theory of Order (1912) in which he proposed a three-part "doctrine of order".
In 1919 he was ordinary professor of systematic philosophy at Cologne and in 1921 professor of philosophy at Leipzig, though he was a visiting professor in
His concept of entelechy was criticized by the scientific community. Biologist
His vitalist writings were criticized by historian Ruth Brandon for being based on a religious rather than an objective scientific standpoint.[8]
Parapsychology
Driesch developed a deep interest in Psychical Research and Parapsychology. In 1931, he published a methodology of parapsychological research (in German) and in 1933 he published a book on the topic titled Psychical Research: The Science of the Super-normal. From 1926 to 1927 he served as the president of the Society for Psychical Research.
Selected works
In German
- Die Biologie als selbstständige Wissenschaft (1893)
- Die Lokalisation morphogenetischer Vorgänge Ein Beweis vitalistischen Geschehens (1899)
- Analytische Theorie der organischen Entwicklung (1894)
- Der Vitalismus als Geschichte und als Lehre (1905)
- Der Begriff der organischen Form (1919)
- Philosophie des Organischen (4th ed. 1928)
In English
- Driesch, H. (1908). The Science and Philosophy of the Organism: The Gifford Lectures delivered before the University of Aberdeen in the Year 1907 and 1908 (2 vols.). London: Adam and Charles Black. [1] 2nd ed. London: A. & C. Black, 1929.
- Driesch, H. (1912). The Justification of Vitalism. Cambridge Magazine1 (15): 397.
- Driesch, H. (1914). The Problem of Individuality: A Course of Four Lectures Delivered before the University of London in October 1913. London: Macmillan.
- Driesch, H. (1914). The History and Theory of Vitalism. (C. K. Ogden, trans.) London: Macmillan.
- Driesch, H. (1924). "The Biological Setting of Psychical Phenomena". The Quest 15 (July): 433–456.
- Driesch, H. (1925). The Crisis in Psychology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Driesch, H. (1925). The Possibility of Metaphysics: The Course of Four Lectures Delivered before the University of London in March 1924. London: Faith Press.
- Driesch, H. (1926). "The Present Status of the Philosophy of Nature in Germany". The Monist 36 (2): 281–298.
- Driesch, H. (1926). "Psychical Research and Established Science". Presidential address. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 36(99): 171–186.
- Driesch, H. (1927). "Psychical Research and Philosophy". In: Carl Murchison (ed.), The Case For and Against Psychical Belief. Worcester: Clark University, 163–178.
- Driesch, H. (1933). Psychical Research: The Science of the Super-Normal. (Theodore Besterman, trans.) London: G. Bell & Sons.
- Driesch, H. (1934). "Psychiatry and Mental Health". Ancient Philosophy 44: 152. [Book Review]
See also
References
- ^ Thurnher, Rainer, Röd, Wolfgang and Schmidinger, Heinrich, Die Philosophie des ausgehenden 19. und des 20. Jahrhunderts: Lebensphilosophie und Existenzphilosphie, C.H.Beck, 2002, p. 378.
- ISBN 978-0-8144-0881-0.
. . . the popular meaning of the term 'clone' is an identical copy that has been created by some conscious design. Under this definition, the first artificially created clone was made in 1885 . . . [Footnote:] Depending on the definition used, one could argue that the experiments carried out by Hans Driesch and Hans Spemmann were not instances of true cloning, but artificial twinning.
- ^ UXL online biography, accessed May 2008
- ^ Lois N. Magner, A history of the life sciences: Third Edition, Revised and Expanded, CRC Press, 2002
- ^ Biography and bibliography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
- ^ Jenkinson, J. W. (1911). Vitalism. The Hibbert Journal 9: 545-559.
- ^ Jennings, H. S. (1907). Behavior of the Starfish, Asterias Forreri De Loriol. University of California Publications in Zoology. p. 180
- ISBN 0-297-78249-5
Further reading
- Griffith, O. W. (1915). Theory of Vitalism. The Hibbert Journal 13: 438-443.
- Oppenheimer, J M (1970). "Hans Driesch and the theory and practice of embryonic transplantation". PMID 4921425.
- Petersen, H (1952). "The biologists Hans Driesch and Hans Spemann". Ergebnisse der Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte. 34: 61–82. PMID 12998604.
External links
- Works by or about Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch at Wikisource
- Media related to Hans Driesch at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by Hans Driesch at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Hans Driesch at Internet Archive
- Biography and bibliography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
- Newspaper clippings about Hans Driesch in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW