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Filosofía zoológica
Primera edición completa en castellano de una obra fundacional para el evolucionismo, la biología y la visión moderna de la Naturaleza.
Esta obra recoge la primera presentación sistemática de la transformación de las especies como teoría y como concepto universal de la naturaleza. El germen intelectual de todo el maremoto que se consolidaría tras la irrupción de Darwin en la escena científica del siglo XIX, cincuenta años más tarde. La presente edición, la primera íntegra en castellano, no sale a la luz como una mera traducción de un clásico, destinado a historiadores de la ciencia y profesionales de la Evolución. Es un proyecto que nace con la pretensión de llenar el vacío editorial que existe sobre este autor en nuestra lengua, un olvido intencionado en un momento en el que la trascendencia de sus ideas cobra nuevas fuerzas, formas y sentidos. Una celebración y una vindicación de las bases fundacionales de la Biología.
Esta obra recoge la primera presentación sistemática de la transformación de las especies como teoría y como concepto universal de la naturaleza. El germen intelectual de todo el maremoto que se consolidaría tras la irrupción de Darwin en la escena científica del siglo XIX, cincuenta años más tarde. La presente edición, la primera íntegra en castellano, no sale a la luz como una mera traducción de un clásico, destinado a historiadores de la ciencia y profesionales de la Evolución. Es un proyecto que nace con la pretensión de llenar el vacío editorial que existe sobre este autor en nuestra lengua, un olvido intencionado en un momento en el que la trascendencia de sus ideas cobra nuevas fuerzas, formas y sentidos. Una celebración y una vindicación de las bases fundacionales de la Biología.
590 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1809
About the author
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
395 books43 followersJean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck was a French naturalist. He was a soldier, biologist, academic, and an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural laws. He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for special sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, and botany-zoology
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February 27, 2018
Phylosophie Zoologique
LAMARCK (1744-1829)
Lamarck was a French Naturalist, one of the pioneers of the science, a biologist, and an academic.
He was one of the first to come up with the idea of evolution in time, occurring and proceeding by natural laws within a genealogic classification, from the most primitive to the most complex species of all living things on earth up to the human being.
He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for individual sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, and botany-zoology.
Lamarck’s treaty published in 1809 preceded Darwin’s work by fifty years On the Origin of Species of 1859.
There are some similarities in their respective philosophies but also some decisive differences.
According to Lamarck, the evolution of living things is based on an inherent tendency of complexification.
Darwin rejected any such idea.
His own theory of evolution is based on the permanent adaptation of living things to their environment. It is therefore of a passive nature, contrary to Lamarck's ongoing internally active evolution.
The other significant difference is the theory of genetic inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Such a theory has been an accepted scientific fact since Aristotle.
Darwin included such a theory in his “evolution.”
Lamarck made several remarks on this idea in the present work but did not establish a complete theory of acquired inheritance.
Then there are Lamarck's explanations on the physical operational functions of the body, like the circulation of liquids such as blood and nervous fluids, etc. under a particular pressure of ‘vital forces' based on observations by the naked eye and conclusions drawn without much scientific backup.
These theories were soon forgotten and superseded by chemical and biological discoveries in the following century.
The one mayor and outstanding achievement by Lamarck was his broad and precious classification of invertebrate animals which is still appreciated today.
The primary interest of this book for me is once again its historical and philosophic value.
Situating scientific progression through centuries, observing from the thousands of dead-end research and advances, made from the Ancient Sumerians, Greeks and Romans, to the modern world.
LAMARCK (1744-1829)
Lamarck was a French Naturalist, one of the pioneers of the science, a biologist, and an academic.
He was one of the first to come up with the idea of evolution in time, occurring and proceeding by natural laws within a genealogic classification, from the most primitive to the most complex species of all living things on earth up to the human being.
He gave the term biology a broader meaning by coining the term for individual sciences, chemistry, meteorology, geology, and botany-zoology.
Lamarck’s treaty published in 1809 preceded Darwin’s work by fifty years On the Origin of Species of 1859.
There are some similarities in their respective philosophies but also some decisive differences.
According to Lamarck, the evolution of living things is based on an inherent tendency of complexification.
Darwin rejected any such idea.
His own theory of evolution is based on the permanent adaptation of living things to their environment. It is therefore of a passive nature, contrary to Lamarck's ongoing internally active evolution.
The other significant difference is the theory of genetic inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Such a theory has been an accepted scientific fact since Aristotle.
Darwin included such a theory in his “evolution.”
Lamarck made several remarks on this idea in the present work but did not establish a complete theory of acquired inheritance.
Then there are Lamarck's explanations on the physical operational functions of the body, like the circulation of liquids such as blood and nervous fluids, etc. under a particular pressure of ‘vital forces' based on observations by the naked eye and conclusions drawn without much scientific backup.
These theories were soon forgotten and superseded by chemical and biological discoveries in the following century.
The one mayor and outstanding achievement by Lamarck was his broad and precious classification of invertebrate animals which is still appreciated today.
The primary interest of this book for me is once again its historical and philosophic value.
Situating scientific progression through centuries, observing from the thousands of dead-end research and advances, made from the Ancient Sumerians, Greeks and Romans, to the modern world.
July 26, 2022
In 1800 Lamarck first set forth the revolutionary notion of species mutability during a lecture to students in his invertebrate zoology class at the National Museum of Natural History. By 1802 the general outlines of his broad theory of organic transformation had taken shape. He presented the theory successively in his Recherches sur l’organisation des corps vivans (1802; “Research on the Organization of Living Bodies”), his Philosophie zoologique (1809; “Zoological Philosophy”), and the introduction to his great multivolume work on invertebrate classification, Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres (1815–22; “Natural History of Invertebrate Animals”). Lamarck’s theory of organic development included the idea that the very simplest forms of plant and animal life were the result of spontaneous generation. Life became successively diversified, he claimed, as the result of two very different sorts of causes. He called the first “the power of life,” or the “cause that tends to make organization increasingly complex,” whereas he classified the second as the modifying influence of particular circumstances (that is, the effects of the environment). He explained this in his Philosophie zoologique: “The state in which we now see all the animals is on the one hand the product of the increasing composition of organization, which tends to form a regular gradation, and on the other hand that of the influences of a multitude of very different circumstances that continually tend to destroy the regularity in the gradation of the increasing composition of organization.”
With this theory, Lamarck offered much more than an account of how species change. He also explained what he understood to be the shape of a truly “natural” system of classification of the animal kingdom. The primary feature of this system was a single scale of increasing complexity composed of all the different classes of animals, starting with the simplest microscopic organisms, or “infusorians,” and rising up to the mammals. The species, however, could not be arranged in a simple series. Lamarck described them as forming “lateral ramifications” with respect to the general “masses” of organization represented by the classes. Lateral ramifications in species resulted when they underwent transformations that reflected the diverse, particular environments to which they had been exposed.
By Lamarck’s account, animals, in responding to different environments, adopted new habits. Their new habits caused them to use some organs more and some organs less, which resulted in the strengthening of the former and the weakening of the latter. New characters thus acquired by organisms over the course of their lives were passed on to the next generation (provided, in the case of sexual reproduction, that both of the parents of the offspring had undergone the same changes). Small changes that accumulated over great periods of time produced major differences. Lamarck thus explained how the shapes of giraffes, snakes, storks, swans, and numerous other creatures were a consequence of long-maintained habits.
With this theory, Lamarck offered much more than an account of how species change. He also explained what he understood to be the shape of a truly “natural” system of classification of the animal kingdom. The primary feature of this system was a single scale of increasing complexity composed of all the different classes of animals, starting with the simplest microscopic organisms, or “infusorians,” and rising up to the mammals. The species, however, could not be arranged in a simple series. Lamarck described them as forming “lateral ramifications” with respect to the general “masses” of organization represented by the classes. Lateral ramifications in species resulted when they underwent transformations that reflected the diverse, particular environments to which they had been exposed.
By Lamarck’s account, animals, in responding to different environments, adopted new habits. Their new habits caused them to use some organs more and some organs less, which resulted in the strengthening of the former and the weakening of the latter. New characters thus acquired by organisms over the course of their lives were passed on to the next generation (provided, in the case of sexual reproduction, that both of the parents of the offspring had undergone the same changes). Small changes that accumulated over great periods of time produced major differences. Lamarck thus explained how the shapes of giraffes, snakes, storks, swans, and numerous other creatures were a consequence of long-maintained habits.
November 3, 2025
from Grok:
### 書籍重點精華
《Philosophie Zoologique》（1809年出版，作者法國博物學家Jean-Baptiste Lamarck）是進化論的先驅著作，全書系統探討動物界的自然歷史，挑戰物種不變的傳統觀點。Lamarck主張，生命形式從簡單到複雜的階梯式漸進（gradation），受環境影響而演化，這是自然法則驅動的過程，而非神創或隨機。書中融合分類學、胚胎學與哲學，強調「軟遺傳」（soft inheritance），即後天習得的特徵可遺傳給後代，奠定拉馬克主義（Lamarckism）基礎。雖然現代遺傳學推翻其核心機制，但這本書影響達爾文，並開啟演化生物學辯論。
全書分兩部分：前半部討論動物組織與分類的自然秩序；後半部詳述演化機制與環境作用。核心論點：自然界無滅絕（除人類干預），物種透過使用/不使用器官與環境適應，逐步完善組織。Lamarck視此為「自然哲學」，強調科學應追求大圖景，而非細碎事實。
以下是書籍精華要點，濃縮核心洞見：
1. **自然階梯與組織漸進**：動物界形成連續的「階梯」（ladder of nature），從最簡單（如無脊椎動物）到最複雜（如人類），這是自然傾向的結果。環境破壞此規則的規律性，但整體趨向「完善」（perfection）。
2. **第一法則：使用與不使用**：器官因使用而強化、不使用而退化，經多代累積改變物種。這是演化的主要驅力，Lamarck稱之為「第一法則」（First Law）。例如，頻繁使用的肌肉會增大。
3. **第二法則：習得特徵遺傳**：這些改變不僅影響個體，還可遺傳給後代，形成永久演化。這是拉馬克主義的核心，強調環境（生活條件）驅動進步，而非隨機變異。
4. **環境與行為的互動**：環境變化引發新需求，動物行為適應（如遷移求食），進而改變生理結構。Lamarck強調無脊椎動物是研究自然進程的關鍵，因其多樣性顯示演化軌跡。
5. **分類與科學方法**：主張「自然分類」（natural classification）基於親緣關係（homology），而非人工便利。物種界限模糊，演化是連續過程；人類栽培（如品種雜交）證明變異可能。
這些要點突顯Lamarck的視野：演化是定向的自然法則，受環境與努力驅動，預示達爾文自然選擇，但忽略隨機性與遺傳機制。
### 舉例（書中或相關應用實例）
書中充滿動物觀察與假設情境，用以說明演化法則。以下是典型例子（直接來自書中描述）：
1. **長頸鹿伸頸求食（第二法則）**：祖先長頸鹿為達高葉，需伸長脖子，經多代使用，脖子逐漸拉長並遺傳。這成為拉馬克主義經典，解釋適應如何永久改變物種。書中以此強調需求驅動演化，而非生存競爭。
2. **水鳥蹼足形成（第一法則）**：早期鳥類祖先在水邊覓食，頻繁划水使腳蹼間膜增厚，經使用強化並遺傳，演化成現代蹼足鳥。這例證不使用（如陸鳥翅膀退化）與使用（如游泳適應）的對比。
3. **盲鼴鼠眼睛退化（不使用）**：鼴鼠長期地下生活，不需視力，眼睛逐漸縮小乃至消失，並遺傳給後代。Lamarck以此說明器官退化如何適應環境，強化自然階梯的動態性。
4. **人類栽培品種變異（人工證據）**：書中提及人類栽培的鴿子（如扇尾鴿）與植物多樣性，顯示環境與選擇可產生新形式，預示達爾文家畜育種觀察。這支持演化是普遍法則。
5. **胚胎結構證據（組織漸進）**：動物胚胎顯示退化器官（如鯨魚後肢骨），證明從簡單祖先演化。Lamarck用此反駁物種固定，強調胚胎是自然階梯的縮影。
這些例子生動連結理論與觀察，雖有爭議（如遺傳錯誤），但啟發現代表觀遺傳學。如果你想深入，從書中「第二部：動物演化法則」讀起，它詳述兩大法則。
### 書籍重點精華
《Philosophie Zoologique》（1809年出版，作者法國博物學家Jean-Baptiste Lamarck）是進化論的先驅著作，全書系統探討動物界的自然歷史，挑戰物種不變的傳統觀點。Lamarck主張，生命形式從簡單到複雜的階梯式漸進（gradation），受環境影響而演化，這是自然法則驅動的過程，而非神創或隨機。書中融合分類學、胚胎學與哲學，強調「軟遺傳」（soft inheritance），即後天習得的特徵可遺傳給後代，奠定拉馬克主義（Lamarckism）基礎。雖然現代遺傳學推翻其核心機制，但這本書影響達爾文，並開啟演化生物學辯論。
全書分兩部分：前半部討論動物組織與分類的自然秩序；後半部詳述演化機制與環境作用。核心論點：自然界無滅絕（除人類干預），物種透過使用/不使用器官與環境適應，逐步完善組織。Lamarck視此為「自然哲學」，強調科學應追求大圖景，而非細碎事實。
以下是書籍精華要點，濃縮核心洞見：
1. **自然階梯與組織漸進**：動物界形成連續的「階梯」（ladder of nature），從最簡單（如無脊椎動物）到最複雜（如人類），這是自然傾向的結果。環境破壞此規則的規律性，但整體趨向「完善」（perfection）。
2. **第一法則：使用與不使用**：器官因使用而強化、不使用而退化，經多代累積改變物種。這是演化的主要驅力，Lamarck稱之為「第一法則」（First Law）。例如，頻繁使用的肌肉會增大。
3. **第二法則：習得特徵遺傳**：這些改變不僅影響個體，還可遺傳給後代，形成永久演化。這是拉馬克主義的核心，強調環境（生活條件）驅動進步，而非隨機變異。
4. **環境與行為的互動**：環境變化引發新需求，動物行為適應（如遷移求食），進而改變生理結構。Lamarck強調無脊椎動物是研究自然進程的關鍵，因其多樣性顯示演化軌跡。
5. **分類與科學方法**：主張「自然分類」（natural classification）基於親緣關係（homology），而非人工便利。物種界限模糊，演化是連續過程；人類栽培（如品種雜交）證明變異可能。
這些要點突顯Lamarck的視野：演化是定向的自然法則，受環境與努力驅動，預示達爾文自然選擇，但忽略隨機性與遺傳機制。
### 舉例（書中或相關應用實例）
書中充滿動物觀察與假設情境，用以說明演化法則。以下是典型例子（直接來自書中描述）：
1. **長頸鹿伸頸求食（第二法則）**：祖先長頸鹿為達高葉，需伸長脖子，經多代使用，脖子逐漸拉長並遺傳。這成為拉馬克主義經典，解釋適應如何永久改變物種。書中以此強調需求驅動演化，而非生存競爭。
2. **水鳥蹼足形成（第一法則）**：早期鳥類祖先在水邊覓食，頻繁划水使腳蹼間膜增厚，經使用強化並遺傳，演化成現代蹼足鳥。這例證不使用（如陸鳥翅膀退化）與使用（如游泳適應）的對比。
3. **盲鼴鼠眼睛退化（不使用）**：鼴鼠長期地下生活，不需視力，眼睛逐漸縮小乃至消失，並遺傳給後代。Lamarck以此說明器官退化如何適應環境，強化自然階梯的動態性。
4. **人類栽培品種變異（人工證據）**：書中提及人類栽培的鴿子（如扇尾鴿）與植物多樣性，顯示環境與選擇可產生新形式，預示達爾文家畜育種觀察。這支持演化是普遍法則。
5. **胚胎結構證據（組織漸進）**：動物胚胎顯示退化器官（如鯨魚後肢骨），證明從簡單祖先演化。Lamarck用此反駁物種固定，強調胚胎是自然階梯的縮影。
這些例子生動連結理論與觀察，雖有爭議（如遺傳錯誤），但啟發現代表觀遺傳學。如果你想深入，從書中「第二部：動物演化法則」讀起，它詳述兩大法則。
February 15, 2024
Libro bastante técnico,no soy de la especialidad pero me esforcé en entenderlo.En gran parte habla sobre la clasificación de los animales y su propuesta de clasificación en vertebrados y no vertebrados y debate sobre cuál de las clasificaciones es la más precisa.Por otra parte y me parece lo más importante se habla sobre la influencia del entorno/ambiente/circunstancias en lo físico o materializado en los cuerpos de los animales y como un animal puede convertirse en casi una nueva especie por las circunstancias y ambiente alrededor,no precisa cuestiones de tiempos por lo que quizas fue su punto débil por el cual Lamarck fue atacado y humillado al no ser entendida su teoría de evolución la cual fue la primera y más precisa (ante ultimos descubrimientos)en aparecer, antes de Darwin.Un personaje muy interesante casi al nivel de un Nikola Tesla (y su historia con Edison/Darwin).Gran libro ,quizás el precursor de la nueva biología y/o epigenetica que empezará a dar a conocer Bruce Lipton.Imaginense la epigenetica ya empezaba a escribirse en 1800??.y redescubierta a partir de 1994. Genio Lamarck.
November 5, 2025
Die großen L– ein französisches Alphabet der Aufklärung
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744 - 1829)– Der erste Evolutionär
Lamarck hört das Flüstern des Lebens im Staub,
sieht Formen im Wandel, vergänglich und taub.
„Das Sein verändert sich, nicht durch Zufall allein“ –
so keimt in der Zeit schon Darwins Schein.
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck – der frühe Visionär des Lebendigen, der das Werden sah, wo andere nur Sein vermuteten.
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744 - 1829)– Der erste Evolutionär
Lamarck hört das Flüstern des Lebens im Staub,
sieht Formen im Wandel, vergänglich und taub.
„Das Sein verändert sich, nicht durch Zufall allein“ –
so keimt in der Zeit schon Darwins Schein.
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck – der frühe Visionär des Lebendigen, der das Werden sah, wo andere nur Sein vermuteten.
Read
April 20, 2021I would recommend it as an excellent introduction to epigenetics
Read
December 1, 2023-2023-10-26 GCGBD
https://archive.org/stream/Zoological...
Reprinted [by Generic] in 2022 with the help of original edition published [MACMILLAN AND CO, LIMITED] long back [1914].
https://archive.org/stream/Zoological...
Reprinted [by Generic] in 2022 with the help of original edition published [MACMILLAN AND CO, LIMITED] long back [1914].
July 1, 2015
This classic work is a must read for any serious student of evolutionary theory or the history of biology. I own an English translation published in 1911 and enjoyed reading it 20 years or so ago. It is unfortunate that Lamarck is remembered today as the guy who "got it wrong," relative to Darwin, because what he's remembered as being wrong about, i.e., the inheritance of acquired traits, Darwin was wrong about too. For instance, Freud came to believe in the inheritance of acquired traits from reading Darwin, long before he finally read Lamarck. The thing Lamarck was truly wrong about, if we need something to criticize him for, was his promulgation of the Neoplatonist idea of the "Scala Naturae" or "Great Chain of Being," which he goes on and on about. Lamarck was a good zoologist and profound thinker for his time and this important book is still worth reading today. I should probably rate it five stars for its historical importance but it is a bit of a slog for the modern reader to get through.
November 23, 2022
Un clásico imprescindible de este gran naturalista del siglo XVIII, ameno y podemos aprender mucho, y entender sus puntos de vista, aunque su teoría evolutiva no pueda ser aceptada.
December 16, 2009
Published in 1809, this book is testament to the fact that scientists used to be good writers. What the hell happened after the early twentieth century? This is the first comprehensive theory of evolution proposed, based upon inductive reasoning. It precedes Darwin's On the Origin of Species by fifty years. And as with Darwin's works, it actually reads well. In order to enjoy contemporary scientific writing, by contrast, I think you have to have some sort of neuroses. Scientific writing today is like reading a printout of 0s and 1s from a computer. This book is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in evolutionary biology. Darwin didn't replace Lamarckian evolutionary theory, he merely added Natural Selection to it. Five stars!
January 5, 2016
Everyone should read this book that was written in his own words and find out just how accurate Lamarck was when assessed against our current and evoluting understanding of epigenetic principles of evolution.
visit http://diggingupthefuture.com for more info
visit http://diggingupthefuture.com for more info
August 21, 2008
Interesting as a historical remnant but uninteresting in terms of evolutionary theory.
Read
January 26, 2009Just selections from Part I, for class.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews