Ernst Haekel

From Geography

Biography

Ernst Heakel was a German biologist. He was born Februari 16, 1834 in Potsdam, Prussia and died August 9, 1919 in Jena, Germany. He grew up in Merseburg and studied at Würzburg and Berlin. His professor there took him on expeditions to observe the sea creatures which formed him as zoologist. He gained a medical degree in 1857. After reading Carles Darwin's work in 1859 he started his interest in evolutionary theories (Ernst Haeckel, 2011).

Lebensraum

For this geography wiki we are interested in Haekels theory of Lebensraum which Friedrich Ratzel adopted. This concept has its roots in biology, but was incorporated in a geographical context (Werlen, 2009, p. 7).

Controversiality

Some of Haekel´s ideas are highly controversial nowadays. He was one of the participants of scientific racism. Charles Darwin´s theories were used for political purposes by Haekel. He wrote a bestseller called Die Welträtsel, or The Riddle of the Universe in English. In this book, Haekel stated the superiority of the Caucasian race, and the inferiority of black people. He deemed white people to be civilized and black and Chinese people to be savage and backward (Jahoda, 1999, p. 83). These ´lower´ human races were doomed to disappear and be superseded by white people (Jackson & Weidman, 2005, p. 87). As a consequence of this racial struggle, it was justified to enlarge the living space (Lebensraum) of the Caucasian race.

World riddle

The world riddle viewed by Ernst Haekel excisted of a dual question, that is: What is the nature of the physical universe and what is the nature of human thinking? According to Haekel, this question has a single answer, because human beings and the universe are joined in one mono-system. This view is called monism (Gutenberg, n.d.).

References

• Ernst Haeckel. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/251305/Ernst-Haeckel
• Jackson, J. & Weidman, N. (2005). Race, Racism, and science: social impact and interaction. Piscataway: Rutgers University Press.
• Jahoda, G. (1999). Images of savages: ancients [sic] roots of modern prejudice in Western culture. London: Routledge.
• Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. (n.d.). Monism as Connecting Religion and Science. Retrevied on 30 September 2011, on [1]
• Werlen, B. (2009). Everyday Regionalizations.

Contributors

• page created by --SusanVerbeij and --BoudewijnIdema 14:19, 28 September 2011 (UTC)