A reconciliation with Darwin? Divergent views on evolutionism in Erich Wasmann and Jaime Pujiula, biologists and Jesuits

Authors

  • Juli Peretó Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Valencia (Spain).
  • Jesús I. Català CEU Cardenal Herrera University (Valencia, Spain).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.7996

Keywords:

spontaneous generation, origin of life, Ernst Haeckel, Charles Darwin, Catholic dogma

Abstract

Unlike the case of Galileo, the Catholic Church has managed evolutionism and Charles Darwin’s work with discretion. Among Catholic scientists, some defend a variety of evolutionism which is peppered with remarkable exceptions, such as the divine origin of life and of the human species. The Jesuit entomologist Erich Wasmann came to the conclusion that the evolutionary theory could explain his observations about myrmecophiles, so he adopted a Catholicism-tinged evolutionism, which Ernst Haeckel considered false and very dangerous. The Jesuit biologist from Catalonia, Jaime Pujiula, continued Wasmann’s work but adopted stances that were more radical than the Austrian entomologist’s, like invoking the inescapable need for God’s intervention in the transition from inert matter to life.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Juli Peretó, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Valencia (Spain).

Tenured university professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and researcher at the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Valencia (Spain). His publications include work on metabolic evolution, symbiosis, the problem of the definition of life, the history of ideas on the natural origin, and the artificial synthesis of life. In 2014, he became a Fellow of the ISSOL (International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life).

Jesús I. Català, CEU Cardenal Herrera University (Valencia, Spain).

Tenure-track History of Science lecturer at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University (Valencia, Spain). He studies the history of biology and natural history in Spain and Portugal during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, their institutional development and the ideological aspects associated with them.

References

Artigas, M., Glick, T. F., & Martínez, R. A. (2006). Negotiating Darwin: The Vatican confronts evolution, 1877–1902. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Català, J. I. (2013). Los jesuitas españoles ante el evolucionismo durante el período restauracionista (1875–1922). In R. Ruiz, M. A. Puig-Samper, & G. Zamudio (Eds.), Darwinismo, biología y sociedad (pp. 211–233). Mexico DF: UNAM; Ediciones Doce Calles.

Durfort, M. (1995). Jaume Pujiula i Dilmé, S. I. (Besalú, Garrotxa, 1869-Barcelona, 1958). La morfologia microscòpica. In J. M. Camarasa, & A. Roca (Eds.), Ciència i tècnica als Països Catalans: Una aproximació biogràfica (pp. 827–858). Barcelona: Fundació Catalana per la Recerca.

Fry, I. (2000). The emergence of life on Earth. A historical and scientific overview. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Haeckel, E. (1906). Last words on evolution. New York: Peter Eckler. Lustig, A. J. (2002). Erich Wasmann, Ernst Haeckel, and the limits of science. Theory in Biosciences, 121, 252–259. doi: 10.1007/s12064-002-0013-8

Peretó, J. (2011). Book review. Creating life in the lab: How new discoveries in synthetic biology make a case for the creator. Reports of the National Center for Scientific Education, 31(6), 8.1–8.3.

Peretó, J., Bada, J. L., & Lazcano, A. (2009). Charles Darwin and the origin of life. Origins of life and evolution of biospheres, 39, 395–406. doi: 10.1007/s11084-009-9172-7

Peretó, J., & Català, J. (2012). Darwinism and the origin of life. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 5, 337–341. doi: 10.1007/s12052-012-0442-x

Pujiula, J. (1905). La moderna biología y la teoría de la evolución. Razón y Fe, 11, 496–508; 12, 59–69.

Pujiula, J. (1910). Conferencias biológicas. Estudios críticos sobre la teoría de la evolución. Barcelona: Tipografía Católica Casals.

Pujiula, J. (1915). Conferencias sobre la vida y su evolución filogenética esta última particularmente con relación al hombre dadas del 23 al 28 de noviembre 1914 en el paraninfo de la Universidad de Valencia a petición del Instituto Médico Valenciano. Barcelona: Tipografía Católica Casals.

Richards, R. J. (2008). The tragic sense of life. Ernst Haeckel and the struggle over evolutionary thought. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Wasmann, E. (1910). Modern biology and the theory of evolution. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.

Wasmann, E. (1912). The Berlin discussion of the problem of evolution. Full report of the lectures given in February 1907, and of the evening discussion. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.

Downloads

Published

2017-06-20

How to Cite

Peretó, J., & Català, J. I. (2017). A reconciliation with Darwin? Divergent views on evolutionism in Erich Wasmann and Jaime Pujiula, biologists and Jesuits. Metode Science Studies Journal, (7), 87–93. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.7996
Metrics
Views/Downloads
  • Abstract
    1269
  • PDF
    412

Issue

Unravelling science: Pulling the thread of knowledge (2017)

Section

Interference. The troubled relationship between science and ideology

License

All the documents in the OJS platform are open access and property of their respective authors.

Authors publishing in the journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors keep the rights and guarantee Metode Science Studies Journal the right to be the first publication of the document, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of authorship and publication in the journal.
  2. Authors are allowed and encouraged to spread their work through electronic means using personal or institutional websites (institutional open archives, personal websites or professional and academic networks profiles) once the text has been published.

Metrics

Similar Articles

> >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.