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.

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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

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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

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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
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Issue

Unravelling science: Pulling the thread of knowledge (2017)

Section

Interference. The troubled relationship between science and ideology

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