"Tectology, or the theory of structure in organisms, is the comprehensive science of individuality among living natural bodies, which usually represent an aggregate of individuals of various orders. The task of organic tectology is therefore to identify and explain organic individuality, i.e. to identify the precise natural laws according to which organic matter individualises itself, and according to which most organisms construct a unified form-complex composed of individuals of various orders." (Ernst Häckel, "Generelle Morphologie der Organismen" ["General Morphology of Organisms"], 1866)
"[…] without the theory of evolution all the big general series of phenomena of organic nature remain completely incomprehensible and inexplicable riddles, while by means of this theory they can be explained simply and consistently. This holds especially true for two complexes of biological phenomena which we now in conclusion wish to single out in a few words. These form the subject of two special branches of physiology which so far have been largely neglected, namely, the ecology and chorology of organisms." (Ernst Häckel, "Generelle Morphologie der Organismen", 1866)
"By ecology we mean the body of knowledge concerning the economy of nature - the investigation of the total relations of the animal both to its inorganic and to its organic environment; including, above all, its friendly and inimical relations with those animals and plants with which it comes directly or indirectly into contact - in a word, ecology is the study of all those complex interrelations referred to by Darwin as the conditions of the struggle for existence." (Ernst Häckel, [lecture] 1869)
"[employment of] exact or mathematical methods […] unfortunately is impossible in most branches of science (particularly in biology), because the empirical foundations are much too imperfect and the present problems much too complicated. Mathematical treatment of these does more harm than good because it gives a deceptive semblance of certainty which is not actually attainable. Part of physiology also involves problems which are difficult or impossible to resolve exactly, and these include the chorology and ecology of plankton." (Ernst Häckel, “Plantonic studies”, 1891)
"Nothing is constant but change! All existence is a perpetual flux of 'being and becoming!' That is the broad lesson of the evolution of the world." (Ernst Häckel, "Wonders of Life", 1904)
"All natural phenomena, without exception, from the motions of the celestial bodies to the growth of plants and the consciousness of men […] are ultimately to be reduced to atomic mechanics." (Ernst Häckel)
"Ecology is] the science of relations between organisms and their environment." (Ernst Häckel)
"The great regard which mathematics enjoys as an exact science in all branches of knowledge is chiefly due to its formal accuracy, and to the possibility of expressing infallibly spatial and time quantities in number and mass." (Ernst Häckel)
"The highest triumph of the human mind, the true knowledge of the most general laws of nature, ought not to remain the private possession of a privileged class of learned men, but ought to become the common property of all mankind." (Ernst Häckel)
No comments:
Post a Comment