Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology

More documents

Recommendations

Info

78 Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology, Vol. 10 (2005) Ulrich Kutschera
Spontaneous versus Equivocal Generation in Early Modern Science Peter McLaughlin Abstract A distinction not often heeded by historians of science between spontaneous generation and so-called equivocal generation (generatio aequivoca) is essential to an understanding of 17th and 18th century theories of generation. Equivocal generation was almost universally rejected, but some sort of spontaneous generation at least of the first life forms whether in one step or in a series of stages is an almost inevitable part of any materialist system. And thus many scientists in the early modern period believed that spontaneous generation could be unequivocal. I shall offer some clarification of the distinction using a number of examples from the 17th and 18th centuries. As recent scholarship has pointed out, the final demise of spontaneous generation has been celebrated at least three times in the modern age: once each in the latter 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries (Mendelsohn 1976, Farley 1977). Each time the size of the organisms sought for decreased – first insects, then infusoria, then bacteria. And each time the purported refutation followed upon a revival of the traditional materialist theory of generation: pangenesis, according to which each part of the body contributes a representative particle to the germ. Since pangenesis theories tend to view even normal sexual generation as a sort of spontaneous assembling of preselected particles, they are quite congenial to ideas of spontaneous generation. Francesco Redi’s Experiments on the Generation of Insects (1668) has often been taken as the decisive refutation of traditional theories of spontaneous generation. Reflecting on Redi’s famous experiments on putrefying flesh, John Ray summed up in 1691: My Observation and Affirmation is, that there is no such Thing in Nature, as Æquivocal or Spontaneous Generation, but that all Animals, as well small as great, not excluding the vilest and most contemptible Insect, are generated by Animal Parents of the same Species with themselves. (Ray 1691, 221) And in the Lexicon Technicum (1704) of John Harris, a reliable source for Newtonian and Lockean orthodoxy, the entry for “equivocal generation” maintains that “the Learned World begins now to be satisfied, that there is nothing like this in Nature.” However, numerous thinkers in the mid 17th century (as well as in the mid 18th century) explicitly advocate some form of spontaneous generation; and they also sometimes spe- Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology, Vol. 10 (2005): 79-88 79
Page 1:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschich
Page 4 and 5:
Annals of the History and Philosoph
Page 6 and 7:
Bibliografische Information der Deu
Page 9 and 10:
Preface A new yearbook for history
Page 11 and 12:
Zur Argumentations- und Vermittlung
Page 13 and 14:
Argumentations- und Vermittlungsstr
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36: Argumentations- und Vermittlungsstr
Page 37 and 38: Argumentations- und Vermittlungsstr
Page 39 and 40: Charles Darwin‘s Moral Sense - on
Page 41 and 42: Charles Darwin’s moral sense - on
Page 63 and 64: In the wake of the “Darwin Corres
Page 65 and 66: In the wake of the “Darwin Corres
Page 67 and 68: Predator-driven macroevolution in f
Page 85: Predator-driven macroevolution in f
Page 89 and 90: Spontaneous versus equivocal genera
Page 97 and 98: Ernst Haeckel and the Struggles ove
Page 125 and 126: Plant systematics in Jena during th
Page 137 and 138:
Plant systematics in Jena during th
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Neither Creation nor Evolution: the
Page 153 and 154:
Neither Creation nor Evolution more
Page 155 and 156:
Neither Creation nor Evolution Aire
Page 157 and 158:
Neither Creation nor Evolution Burm
Page 159 and 160:
Neither Creation nor Evolution down
Page 161 and 162:
Neither Creation nor Evolution He H
Page 163 and 164:
Neither Creation nor Evolution geol
Page 165 and 166:
Neither Creation nor Evolution stor
Page 167 and 168:
Neither Creation nor Evolution from
Page 169 and 170:
Neither Creation nor Evolution regu
Page 171 and 172:
Neither Creation nor Evolution woul
Page 173 and 174:
Neither Creation nor Evolution life
Page 175 and 176:
Neither Creation nor Evolution mass
Page 177 and 178:
Neither Creation nor Evolution Glic
Page 179 and 180:
Neither Creation nor Evolution Temk
Page 181 and 182:
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? M
Page 183 and 184:
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? e
Page 185 and 186:
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? e
Page 187 and 188:
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? p
Page 189 and 190:
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? S
Page 191 and 192:
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? t
Page 193 and 194:
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? B
Page 195 and 196:
Was there a Darwinian Revolution? R
Page 197 and 198:
Holism, Coherence and the Dispositi
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Instructions for Authors Ann Hist P
Page 213:
T he name DGGTB (Deutsche Gesellsch
show all

Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?