Romanticism in Science Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science
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ROMANTICISM IN SCIENCE BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Editor ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University Editorial Advisory Board THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University ADOLF GRONBAUM, University of Pittsburgh SAHOTRA SARKAR, Dibner Institute M.1. T. SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKY, Baruch College of the City University of New York VOLUME 152 ROMANTICISM IN SCIENCE Science in Europe, 1790-1840 Edited by STEFANO POGGI Department of Philosophy, University of Florence, Italy and MAURIZIO BOSSI Centro Romantico, Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux, Florence, Italy With the editorial assistance of Berendina van Straalen Under the auspices of the Centro Romantico of the Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Romanticism in sCience: science in Europe, 1790-1840 I edited by Stefano Poggi and Maurizio Bossi: with the editorial assistance of Berendina van Straalen. p. cm. -- (Boston studies in the philosophy of science) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-481-4284-2 ISBN 978-94-017-2921-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-2921-5 1. Sctence--Europe--History--18th century. 2. SCience--Europe -History--19th century. 3. Science--Philosophy--History. 4. RONanticism--History. I. Poggi, Stefano. II. Bassi. Maurizio. III. Series. 0127.E8R66 1993 509.4' 09' 033--dc20 93-1728 ISBN 978-90-481-4284-2 Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1994 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii PREFACE ix INTRODUCTION xi GERHARD H. MULLER I Wechselwirkung in the Life and Other Sciences: A Word, New Claims and a Concept Around 1800 ... and Much Later 1 UMBERTO BOTTAZZINI I Geometry and "Metaphysics of Space" in Gauss and Riemann 15 FERDINANDO ABBRI I Romanticism versus Enlightenment: Sir Humphry Davy's Idea of Chemical Philosophy 31 GmLIo BARSANTI I Lamarck and the Birth of Biology 1740-1810 47 ILSE JAHN I On the Origin of Romantic Biology and Its Further Development at the University of Jena Between 1790 and 1850 75 FREDERICK GREGORY I "Nature Is an Organized Whole": J.E Fries's Reformulation of Kant's Philosophy of Organism 91 STEFANO FABBRI BERTOLETTI I The Anthropological Theory of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach 103 LUIGI MARINO I Soemmerring, Kant and the Organ of the Soul 127 STEFANO POGGI I Neurology and Biology in the Romantic Age in Germany: Carus, Burdach, Gall, von Baer 143 WILLIAM R. WOODWARD and REINHARDT PESTER I From Romantic Naturphilosophie to a Theory of Scientific Method for the Medical Disciplines 161 v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS H.A.M. SNELDERS / Romanticism and Dutch Scientists 175 RUDOLF STICHWEH / The Unity of Teaching and Research 189 HANS HELMUT CHRISTMANN / Linguistics and Modem Philology in Germany 1800-1840 as 'Scientific' Subjects and as University Disciplines 203 MICHAEL HEIDELBERGER / The Unity of Nature and Mind: Gustav Theodor Fechner's Non-Reductive Materialism 215 INDEX 237 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This volume has been promoted by the Centro Romantico of the Gabi netto Scientifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux of Florence in collaboration with the University of Florence, through the work of a committee con sisting of: Paolo Bagnoli (director of the Gabinetto G.P. Vieusseux, Florence), Maurizio Bossi (Centro Romantico of the Gabinetto G.P. Vieusseux), Paolo Galluzzi (director of the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Florence), Giuliano Pancaldi (University of Bologna), Stefano Poggi (University of Florence), Paolo Rossi (University of Flo rence). English translations by Donatella Baggio Betti, James Bradley, Alice Scott and Stephen Tobin. Stefania Marogna of the Centro Romantico of the Gabinetto Scien tifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux has assisted in copy-editing. M.B. The volume was also discussed and partly organized during a period of research in the Federal Republic of Germany, and thanks are due in particular to the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung for making my stay in Heidelberg and Konstanz possible, and also to Professor Jiirgen Mittelstrass and to Professor Gereon Wolters for their kind support. I am also grateful for the generous support of the Committee for his torical, philosophical and philological sciences of the Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. S.P. The Editors gratefully acknowledge the financial contribution of Regione Toscana towards realization of this publication. vii PREFACE When we were examining the idea of this volume in our first meetings with Stefano Poggi, the title that first sprang to mind was Romanticism and the Unity of Knowledge. Science in Europe, 1790-1840. We felt it was important to emphasise exactly how much the tension between a unitary vision of the universe and increasing scientific specialisation meant for our civilisation in the period going from the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th. The title we finally settled on, Romanticism in Science, covers a wider field, but our initial idea, while possibly narrower in scope, nonetheless bore a more direct relation to that range of experiences which were the real backdrop to Giovan Pietro Vieusseux's Gabinetto Scientifico Let terario. Founded in Florence in 1819, the Gabinetto, in the intention of Vieusseux, was to become a vehicle to increase Italian awareness of all that was new circulating in Europe in the fields of knowledge and social advancement. This led eventually to the publication of a monthly review, the "Antologia", the first example of a modem publication in Italy, on a par with the best periodicals being published in other coun tries. Its subjects reflected the entire gamut of interests and problems of the period, while the variety and concision of its "scientific bulletins" showed just how keen the Gabinetto was to acquire and provide the most up-to-date information available on the most important achievements of European civilisation. The pages of the review also showed concern at the possibility that the splitting of science into many branches might lead to the over-specialisation of knowledge, thus in effect blunting the tool of scientific research for the common good. Vieusseux shared this concern himself and was among those who launched the idea of a conference of Italian scientists. The first such conference was held in Tuscany in 1839, along the lines of similar conferences which had been held throughout Europe since the early years of the century in an attempt to keep the boundaries of knowledge within a common framework. In this context the Gabinetto Vieusseux played its role in keeping open the channels of communication not only between scientists of ix S. Poggi and M. Bossi (eds.J, Ronumticism in Science, ix-x. x PREFACE different branches but also between scientists in general and men from other fields who were working for the "good of mankind". This was not unlike the work being done by similar institutions in other parts of Europe in the early part of the century. Where this volume, the result of the unstinting co-operation with the University of Florence, comes closest to the line of research of the Centro Romantico of the Gabinetto Vieusseux is in its presentation of the role and functions within society of science. In fact the Centro Romantico's line of study centres on the interplay between ideals and practicality in the early 19th century, in an awareness of the direct relevance of the experiences of that period to those of our own day. MAURIZIO BOSSI Centro Romantico Gabinetto G.P. Vieusseux, Florence INTRODUCTION 1. For quite a few years now, history of science has been devoting considerable attention to the 19th century and indeed, most European and American science historians are presently engaged in studying the development of sciences in the 19th century. The reasons for such an orientation are fairly clear. Once that the philosophical reflection upon science has explicitly recognized the importance of historical knowl edge, the least remote stages of development of scientifical theories have obviously become the focus of attention. A large number of important results have been thus achieved. Just think of the innovative studies on the "sciences of life"; just consider what emerged from the analysis of the evolution of physical sciences on the one hand and from the study of the origins of scientifical psy chology on the other. In general, much attention was devoted to the by now commonly called "Baconian sciences". Therefore the traditional image of the development of sciences in the last century has signifi cantly changed; and such changes help us to understand not only the philosophical ideas but also many other aspects of the more general cultural context of that age. 2. We usually consider the years 1840-1880 as the space of time during which the impact of sciences produced some profound modifications in the "conceptions of the world". During the same period, Positivism emerged and developed in Europe. This latter has recently been the object of many studies that highlighted its main features: a central issue of contemporary philosophy, i.e. the relationship between science and philosophy seems to have some important presuppositions in the 19th century debate on Positivism. Our knowledge of the science-philosophy relationship in the 19th century is not limited to the 1840-1880 period. More and more attention is being devoted to the very rich and complex situation that characterizes the years of the so-called "crisis" of Positivism, starting from 1880. As to the first half of the century our know ledge is much more limited.