Darwin: German mystic or French rationalist?

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 36 (3):305-311 (2015)
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Abstract

The notion that Charles Darwin embraced the German Romantic tradition seems plausible, given the early influence of Alexander von Humboldt. But this view fails to do justice to other scientific traditions. Darwin was a protégé of the Englishman John Stevens Henslow and was a follower of the Scott Charles Lyell. He had important debts to French scientists, notably Henri Milne-Edwards, Étienne and Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and Alphonse de Candolle. Many Germans were quite supportive of Darwin, but not all of these were encumbered by idealistic metaphysical baggage. Both Darwin and Anton Dohrn treated science as very much a cosmopolitan enterprise.

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Citations of this work

The Darwinian tension.Hajo Greif - 2015 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 53:53-61.
Humboldt, Darwin, and romantic resonance in science.Xuansong Liu - 2022 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 92 (C):196-208.

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