Abstract
Charles Darwin is considered a great precursor of soil science and a founder of functional soil ecology through his work The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms with Observations on Their Habits (1881). Among the cultural dimensions to be considered in the understanding of soils, those invoked by one’s inner world, the “inner soil”, could be important. In this chapter, a psychological dimension in Darwin’s scientific work is explored. We draw on his work on the earthworms that began in 1837 and concluded in 1881, a few months before his death (1882). Darwin’s life journey and relations to soil and Earth was influenced initially by the Christian belief of God the father that later in life shifted toward maternal Mother Earth as “inner soil.” We assert that different aspects of Darwin’s personality informed his attitude toward nature and soil. This analysis could be an illustration of the possible value of considering the psychological dimension in the development of a scientific theory.
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Notes
- 1.
CF is a soil scientist, LFG a psychiatrist and NP both an environmental (soil) scientist and analytical psychologist.
- 2.
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9105,” accessed on February 16, 2020, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-9105.xml. Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21
- 3.
According to the Universalis Encyclopedia, the “chtonian” adjective relates to the earth, the catacombs, the underground world.
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Feller, C., Girod, L.F., Patzel, N. (2023). Darwin and the Earthworm: From God the Father to Mother Earth. In: Patzel, N., Grunwald, S., Brevik, E.C., Feller, C. (eds) Cultural Understanding of Soils. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13169-1_18
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