Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Konrad Lorenz's ethological theory: Explanation and ideology, 1938–1943

  • Published:
Journal of the History of Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. An earlier version of this article was published as “Die ethologische Theorie von Konrad Lorenz: Erklärung und Ideologie, 1938 bis 1943,” in Naturwissenschaft, Technik und NS-Ideologie, ed. S., Richter and H., Mehrtens, (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1980), pp. 189–214. A still earlier version was delivered at the fifteenth International Congress of the History of Science, Edinburgh, August 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Theodora J., Kalikow, “History of Konrad Lorenz's Ethological Theory, 1927–1939: The Role of Meta-Theory, Theory, Anomaly and New Discoveries in a Scientific ‘Evolution’” Stud. Hist. and Phil. Sci., 6 (1975), 331–341; and “Konrad Lorenz's Ethological Theory, 1939–1943: ‘Explanations’ of Human Thinking, Feeling and Behaviour,” Phil. Soc. Sci., 6 (1976), 15–34.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Robert J., Richards, “The Innate and the Learned: The Evolution of Konrad Lorenz's Theory of Instinct,” Phil. Soc. Sci., 4 (1974), 111–133.

    Google Scholar 

  4. But see Sheldon, Richmond, “Man = The Rational Hunter: Some Comments on the Book by Tiger and Fox, ‘The Imperial Animal,” Phil. Soc. Sci., 4 (1974), 279–291; and Thomas Molnar, “Ethology and Environmentalism: Man as Animal and Mechanism,” Intercoll. Rev., 13 (1977), 25–43. Both writers recognize the continuing authoritarian political implications in Lorenz's work.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Darwin, Descent of Man (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1988) p. 138.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Daniel, Gasman, The Scientific Origins of National Socialism (London: MacDonald, 1971), pp. xiii-xiv.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Daniel, Gasman, The Scientific Origins of National Socialism (London: MacDonald, 1971), pp. 90–91, paraphrasing W. Schallmeyer, Vererbung und Auslese, 2nd ed. (Jena: G. Fischer, 1910), p. ix.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Loren, Graham, “Science and Values: The Eugenics Movement in Germany and Russia in the 1920's,” Amer. Hist. Rev., 82 (1977), 1133–64; quotation on p. 1135.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Lorenz spent a semester at Columbia College of Columbia University (fall 1922) and saw his first chromosome in T. H. Morgan's laboratory. See Alec, Nisbett, Konrad Lorenz: A Biography (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977), pp. 26–27.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Vic Cox, “A Prize for the Goose Father,” Hum. Behavior (Mar. 1974), 20.

  11. New York: Scribner's, 1936.

  12. Adolf Lorenz, My Life and Work, p. 335. Konrad Lorenz quotes his father as follows: “Viewed race-biologically, the whole art of medicine is a misfortune for humanity.” (“Die angeborenen Formen möglicher Erfahrung,” Z. Tierpsychologie, 5 (1943), 235–409; quotation on p. 380.) All translations of Lorenz's writings are my own, unless otherwise noted.

  13. Adolf Lorenz, My Life and Work, pp. 335–336. Perhaps such remarks, although there are only two or three scattered through a book of some 350 pages, are what prompted Otto Antonius, a referee for Konrad, to say that he had heard this book described as a “true Nazi book.” (Konrad Lorenz file, Deutschefor-schungsgemeinschaft, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.)

  14. Letter of 3 Sept. 1980, p. 2. My translation.

  15. Gasman, Scientific Origins, p. 14.

  16. Nisbett, Konrad Lorenz, p. 21.

  17. Gasman, Scientific Origins, p. 21.

  18. Ibid., p. 154.

  19. Ibid., p. 11.

  20. Richard I., Evans, Konrad Lorenz: The Man and His Ideas (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975), pp. 5–6; Les Prix Nobel en 1973, (Stockholm: Imprimerie Royale P. A. Norstedt, 1974), p. 177.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Jena, 1910.

  22. Garland, Allen, Life Science in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), p. 73.

    Google Scholar 

  23. See, for example, “Inductive and Teleological Psychology” (1942), in K. Z. Lorenz, Studies in Animal and Human Behaviour, vol. I, trans. Robert Martin (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970), pp. 351–370. This volume will be referred to hereafter as Martin I.

  24. See, for example, “Comparative Studies of the Motor Patterns of Anatinae” (1941), in K. Z. Lorenz, Studies in Animal and Human Behaviour, vol. II, trans. Robert Martin (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971), pp. 14–113, esp. pp. 25–26. This volume will be referred to hereafter as Martin II. See also “A Consideration of Methods of Identification of Species-Specific Instinctive Behavior Patterns in Birds” (1932) in Martin I, 57–100, esp. p. 60.

  25. Molnar, “Ethology and Environmentalism”, p. 39.

  26. See Fritz, Stern, The Politics of Cultural Despair (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), p. 138.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Fritz, Stern, The Politics of Cultural Despair (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), pp. 138–139.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Gasman, Scientific Origins, pp. 173–174.

  29. For an account of Nazi honors for Haeckel, see ibid., pp. 170–173.

  30. See Niles R., Holt, “Monists and Nazis: A Question of Scientific Responsibility”, Hastings Center Report, 5 (1975), 37–43; quotation on p. 37.

    Google Scholar 

  31. See Nisbett, Konrad Lorenz, p. 90.

  32. Bruce Chatwin, “The Education of Konrad Lorenz”, Sunday Times (London), Dec. 1, 1974; reprinted in Atlas (June 1975), 21–24.

  33. With philosophical failings analogous to Haeckel's. See Theo J., Kalikow, review of Konrad Lorenz, Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins, Phil. Soc. Sci., 8 (1978), 99–101.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Martin I, 101–258.

  35. “Refugee Scientists from Austria during the Occupation of Their Country, 1938–1945,” delivered at Colloque International “Les Universités et les autres centres scientifiques dans la zone d'influence des pays de l'axe, 1938–1939” (Cracovie: Pologne, 1979), pp. 5–6.

  36. “Systematik und Entwicklungsgedanke im Unterricht,” Der Biologe, 9 (1940), 24–36; quotation on p. 30.

  37. Berlin Document Center.

  38. Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  39. This can be inferred from the DFG material, especially the von Wettstein letter of December 14, 1937, discussed below.

  40. My translations.

  41. P. G. J., Pulzer, The Rise of Political Anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria (New York: John Wiley, 1964), pp. 326–327.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Reported by Gordon, Shepherd, The Austrian Odyssey (London: Macmillan, 1957), p. 135. Emphasis added.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Karl R., Stadler, Austria (New York: Praeger, 1971), p. 195.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Eduard Baumgarten has provided me with an extensive account of how Lorenz came to be called to Königsberg. I am convinced that the circumstances of this appointment were so unusual that Lorenz's political leanings were relatively unimportant. Besides, by this time scholarly worth had replaced mere political affiliation as the major criterion for university appointments. See Richard, Zneimer, “The Nazis and the Professors: Social Origin, Professional Mobility and Political Involvement of the Frankfurt University Faculty, 1933–1939,” J. Social Hist., 12 (1978), 147–158. However, Nisbett's report (Konrad Lorenz, pp. 90–91) that Lorenz's involvement with Nazism never resulted in anything concrete, indeed that it hurt his chances for success, is not borne out by any documentation I have seen. On the personnel forms of the Reich education ministry, Lorenz listed his party affiliation as well as his connection with the Race-Political Department of the NSDAP “mit Redeerlaubnis.” In 1940, before his call to Königsberg, he had been promoted, via good scientific and political reports, to “Dozent neuer Ordnung” (with salary) at the University of Vienna. (Berlin Document Center, REM File, Konrad Lorenz.)

    Google Scholar 

  45. See “Die ethologische Theorie von Konrad Lorenz.”

  46. Nisbett, Konrad Lorenz; DFG File; Baumgarten, private correspondence.

  47. Eduard Baumgarten, letter of September 3, 1980, p. 1. My translation.

  48. Martin I, 253.

  49. Ibid., p. 257.

  50. See, for instance, “A consideration of methods of identification of species-specific instinctive behaviour patterns in birds” (1932), in Martin I, 84–85; “Companion” (1935), in Martin I, 175.

  51. Character und Erziehung: 16. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie in Bayreuth, ed. Otto, Klemm (Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 1939), p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Character und Erziehung: 16. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie in Bayreuth, ed. Otto, Klemm (Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 1939) pp. 139–147.

    Google Scholar 

  53. This is one year before the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact. Until about 1936 Lorenz too had believed in the chain-reflex theory.

  54. Charakter und Erziehung, p. 139.

  55. Ibid., p. 140.

  56. Ibid., p. 146.

  57. Ibid., p. 140.

  58. Ibid., pp. 145–146.

  59. Ibid., p. 140.

  60. See the discussion below of “Durch Domestikation verursachte Störungen arteigenen Verhaltens” (1940).

  61. Daniel Gasman says the following about the congruence of Hitler's and Haeckel's beliefs on art: “For Hitler, as for Haeckel, art was a highly serious matter and was a vehicle whereby the people could capture the reality of the homeland. Hitler was, therefore, like Haeckel, opposed to modern art, which he felt distorted reality” (Gasman, Scientific Orgins, pp. 180–181 n121). See also Hitler's speech at the culture session of the 1933 party rally, in Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte, 4 (1933), 434–442; Hitler's speech at the opening of the House of German Art, July 18, 1937, reported in N. H. Baynes, The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, (New York: Howard Fertig, 1969), I, 584–592.

  62. Charakter und Erziehung, p. 146.

  63. “Konrad Lorenz's Ethological Theory, 1939–1943.”

  64. “Durch Domestikation verursachte Störungen arteigenen Verhaltens” (1940) and “Die angeborenen Formen möglicher Erfahrung” (1943).

  65. Charakter und Erziehung, p. 146.

  66. Ibid.

  67. Ibid.

  68. Many thanks to Dietrich Orlow, who provided me with the information in this paragraph.

  69. Der Biologe, 9 (1940), 24–36. By the time this article appeared, Lorenz had probably been called to Königsberg. He had, however, written it beforehand.

  70. Ibid., p. 35.

  71. Ibid., p. 28.

  72. Ibid., p. 30. Emphasis omitted.

  73. Ibid., p. 29.

  74. Theo J., Kalikow, “Konrad Lorenz's ‘Brown Past’: A Reply to Alec Nisbett,” J. Hist. Behav. Sci., 14 (1978), 173–179.

    Google Scholar 

  75. “Systematik und Entwicklungsgedanke,” p. 24.

  76. Z. angewandte Psychologie und Charakterkunde, 59 (1940), 1–81.

  77. See Cox, “A Prize for the Goose Father,” p. 19.

  78. The entire Darwinian explanation of domestication would be the removal of “natural” selection factors and the substitution of others such as human choice, different environment, and the like. The influence of ideology on Lorenz's ideas is seen in the fact that he does not give this entire explanation but assumes that “civilized” life is mutagenic, and so on.

  79. “Durch Domestikation,” p. 7.

  80. Ibid., p. 53.

  81. Ibid., pp. 59–60.

  82. Ibid., p. 60.

  83. Ibid., p. 66.

  84. Ibid., p. 70.

  85. Ibid., pp. 71–72.

  86. Der Biologe, 10 (1941), 45–47.

  87. Ibid., pp. 46–47.

  88. Ibid., p. 47.

  89. BDC, REM file, Konrad Lorenz.

  90. Z. Tierpsychologie, 5 (1943), 235–409.

  91. It is also a significant precursor of Lorenz's postwar works, including King Solomon's Ring (first published in 1949) and On Aggression (first published in 1963).

  92. “Die angeborenen Formen,” p. 306.

  93. Ibid., pp. 306–307.

  94. Ibid., p. 289.

  95. In G., Heberer, ed., Die Evolution der Organismen (Jena: G. Fischer, 1943), pp. 105–127.

    Google Scholar 

  96. G., Heberer, ed., Die Evolution der Organismen (Jena: G. Fischer, 1943), p. 119.

    Google Scholar 

  97. In G., Heberer, ed., Die Evolution der Organismen, 2nd ed. (Jena: G. Fischer, 1954), pp. 131–177. This is the version that was translated for the English edition of Lorenz's collected works (in Martin II).

    Google Scholar 

  98. The substitution of other selection factors is also important.

  99. Martin II, 232.

  100. Martin II, 236.

  101. Martin II, 237.

  102. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. First published in German in 1971.

  103. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977. First published in German in 1973.

  104. Ibid., p. 173.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Southeastern Massachusetts University, 02747, North Dartmouth, MA

    Theodora J. Kalikow

Authors
  1. Theodora J. Kalikow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kalikow, T.J. Konrad Lorenz's ethological theory: Explanation and ideology, 1938–1943. J Hist Biol 16, 39–73 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00186675

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00186675

Keywords

Search

Navigation