Temkin, O. The Idea of Descent in Post-Romantic Germany (1959)
Temkin, O. The Idea of Descent in Post-Romantic Germany / O. Temkin // Forerunners of Darwin: 1745–1859 / ed. by B. Glass, O. Temkin, W. L. Straus. — Baltimore : Johns Hopkins Press, 1959. — P. 323–355.In this essay, Owsei Temkin analyzes the intellectual climate of post-Romantic Germany, focusing on how concepts of descent and biological transformation were received and debated within the scientific and philosophical communities of the era. Temkin examines the tensions between the burgeoning empirical biological research and the lingering influence of Romantic Naturphilosophie. By tracing the evolution of these ideas, the author highlights how German thinkers navigated the transition from idealistic concepts of nature to more mechanistic or developmental explanations of life, providing a critical perspective on the precursors to Darwinian theory in the German context.