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Biology: Treviranus and the Life Sciences as a Unified Field

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Book cover Vital Forces, Teleology and Organization

Part of the book series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences ((HPTL))

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Abstract

This chapter is devoted to thorough analysis of the work of Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (1776–1837), including his monumental six-volume Biologie, oder Philosophie lebenden für Natur und der Naturforscher und Ärtzte (1802–1822) and the two-volume Erscheinungen und Gesetze der organischen Leben (1831–1833). I argue that Treviranus’ work constitutes a compelling synthesis of the framework elaborated by the Göttingen naturalists and later developed by Naturphilosophie. I stress that Schelling’s organicist views played a relevant role in this shift and inform several key passages of the Biologie. At the same time, through emphasis on the geographical distribution of organisms and their transformation over time, Treviranus moved beyond Naturphilosophie to establish the foundation of biology as a historical science.

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Change history

  • 27 August 2019

    In the previous version, while the source is cited in the text, footnote and/or bibliography, mostly including exact page number, the report of its content is sometimes incomplete paraphrasis and/or lack of inverted commas. The mis-referenced passages are reported below.

Notes

  1. 1.

    McLaughlin 2004.

  2. 2.

    Ivi, 4.

  3. 3.

    Barsanti 1979; Corsi 1988; Laurent 2001; Corsi et al. 2006.

  4. 4.

    DeJager 1991; Steigerwald 2014.

  5. 5.

    Treviranus 1802, V–VI.

  6. 6.

    Kant 1968, Ak. III: 691.

  7. 7.

    Treviranus 1802, 4.

  8. 8.

    Ivi, 34.

  9. 9.

    Ivi, 33.

  10. 10.

    Ivi, 19.

  11. 11.

    Ivi, 27, 30.

  12. 12.

    Ivi, 54.

  13. 13.

    Ivi, 23.

  14. 14.

    Treviranus 1802, 52.

  15. 15.

    Ivi, 58.

  16. 16.

    Ibidem.

  17. 17.

    Treviranus 1802, 61.

  18. 18.

    Ivi, 62.

  19. 19.

    Ivi, 64–68.

  20. 20.

    Ivi, 69.

  21. 21.

    Treviranus 1805, 299.

  22. 22.

    Ivi, 233.

  23. 23.

    Ivi, 254.

  24. 24.

    Ivi, 464.

  25. 25.

    Ivi, 465.

  26. 26.

    Ivi, 519.

  27. 27.

    Ivi, 552.

  28. 28.

    Ivi, 553.

  29. 29.

    Ivi, 554–555.

  30. 30.

    Kant 1968, Ak, 5, 360 (234).

  31. 31.

    Ivi, 387 (259)

  32. 32.

    Treviranus 1814, 47.

  33. 33.

    Ivi, 624.

  34. 34.

    Ivi, 625.

  35. 35.

    Ivi, 626.

  36. 36.

    Ibidem.

  37. 37.

    Ivi, 627.

  38. 38.

    Ibidem.

  39. 39.

    Ivi, 628.

  40. 40.

    Ibidem.

  41. 41.

    Ivi, 629.

  42. 42.

    Ivi, 631.

  43. 43.

    Treviranus 1818, 430.

  44. 44.

    Ivi, 443.

  45. 45.

    Treviranus 1822, 5.

  46. 46.

    Ivi, 6.

  47. 47.

    Treviranus 1803, 7.

  48. 48.

    Ivi, 8–19.

  49. 49.

    Ivi, 20.

  50. 50.

    Ivi, 57.

  51. 51.

    Ivi, 265.

  52. 52.

    Ivi, 264.

  53. 53.

    Ivi, 403.

  54. 54.

    Ivi, 404.

  55. 55.

    Treviranus 1803, 499.

  56. 56.

    Treviranus 1805, 3.

  57. 57.

    Ivi, 21.

  58. 58.

    Ivi, 23.

  59. 59.

    Ivi, 39.

  60. 60.

    Ivi, 39.

  61. 61.

    Ivi, 40.

  62. 62.

    Ivi, 173.

  63. 63.

    Ivi, 255.

  64. 64.

    Ivi, 226.

  65. 65.

    Ivi, 4.

  66. 66.

    Ivi, 8.

  67. 67.

    Ibidem.

  68. 68.

    Ibidem.

  69. 69.

    Ivi, 13.

  70. 70.

    Ivi, 18.

  71. 71.

    Ivi, 23.

References

Sources

  • Treviranus, G. R. (1802). Biologie, oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur für Naturforcher und Ärzte, Band I. Göttingen: Röwer.

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  • Treviranus, G. R. (1803). Biologie, oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur für Naturforcher und Ärzte, Band II. Göttingen: Röwer.

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  • Treviranus, G. R. (1805). Biologie, oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur für Naturforcher und Ärzte, Band III. Göttingen: Röwer.

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  • Treviranus, G. R. (1814). Biologie, oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur für Naturforcher und Ärzte, Band IV. Göttingen: Röwer.

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  • Treviranus, G. R. (1818). Biologie, oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur für Naturforcher und Ärzte, Band V. Göttingen: Röwer.

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  • Treviranus, G. R. (1822). Biologie, oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur für Naturforcher und Ärzte, Band VI. Göttingen: Röwer.

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Literature

  • Barsanti, G. (1979). Dalla storia naturale alla storia della natura: Saggio su Lamarck. Milano: Feltrinelli.

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  • Corsi, P. (1988). The age of Lamarck. In Evolutionay theories in France: 1790–1830. Berkeley: University of California Press.

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  • Corsi, P., Gayon, J., Gohau, G., & Tirard, S. (2006). Lamarck, philosophe de la nature. Paris: Puf.

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  • DeJager T. F. (1991). G.R. Treviranus (1776–1837) and the biology of a world in transition. PhD dissertation, University of Toronto.

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  • Laurent, G. (2001). La naissance du transformisme: Lamarck entre Linné et Darwin. Paris: Vuibert et Adapt.

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  • McLaughlin, P. (2004). Naming biology. Journal of the History of Biology, 35(1), 1–4.

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  • Steigerwald, J. (2014). Treviranus’ biology: Generation, degeneration and the boundaries of life. In Gender, race, and reproduction: Philosophy and the early life sciences in context. New York: SUNY Press.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Andrea Gambarotto

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  1. Andrea Gambarotto
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Gambarotto, A. (2018). Biology: Treviranus and the Life Sciences as a Unified Field. In: Vital Forces, Teleology and Organization. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65415-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65415-7_4

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