Lamarck

Past Masters (Oxford)

by Ludmilla Jordanova

Figura central de la ciencia decimonónica, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829) vio ensombrecido su lugar durante un vasto periodo, debido a la difusión de las teorías de Huxley y Darwin, que negaban algunos de los supuestos de las teorías del biólogo francés sobre la evolución. Sin embargo, como lo demuestra el autor, varias de las sentencias lamarckianas siguen siendo definitivas para la historia de la ciencia moderna.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

163 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 1984

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short survey of Lamarck's life and work aims put these in context and to counter the various myths that developed about his work during the nineteenth and even the twentieth centuries. It is clearly written and accomplishes its purpose. Looked at as a late eighteenth century thinker [1744-1829] Lamarck seems innovative. Jordanova presents his philosophy of biology as a whole and let me get past the view of him as simply the exponent of the idea of the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Actually I read the English edition.