:The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought

Abstract

Among the many mavericks in German academia who intellectually shaped Germany's transition from a pre-nation-state assembly of territories into an expansionist empire, Ernst Haeckel certainly figures very prominently. Those intellectuals present interesting examples of how science and politics became intertwined in the course of the nineteenth century. Haeckel has been recognized for many of his activities in both the sciences and politics, but he has probably been best remembered as the popularizer of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory in Germany. Thus Robert J. Richards's biography of Haeckel fits nicely into the general trend during this “Darwin year” of publications that deal not only with Darwin but also with his impact throughout the world. But the book does more than reflect on the adamant propagandist of evolution. In fact, this work tries to capture all of the ramifications of Haeckel's professional and private life in order to rehabilitate him as a serious figure in German academic life, not merely the precursor of Nazi ideology as some authors have suggested in the past. As indicated by the title, which echoes Miguel de Unamuno's Del sentimiento trágico de la vida (1913), Richards's vantage point to understand Haeckel's work is to interpret him as a “tragic” figure—a split soul torn between modern science and the constant quasi-religious quest for transcendence.

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