The influence of German idealistic morphology on the development of C.J. van der Klaauw's epistemology

Abstract

Notwithstanding the general rise of experimental disciplines in biology in the first decades of our century, in Germany and in the Netherlands the interest in the idealistic morphological tradition flourished, and compensated for a reductionistic causal approach to natural phenomena. This article analyses the influence of the German idealistic morphologists W. Lubosch and A. Meyer on the development of C.J. van der Klaauw's epistemology. It discusses the gradual incorporation of non-causal principles into van der Klaauw's concept of biology. Van der Klaauw's epistemological concept of holistic biology was shaped in a critical confrontation with German idealistic morphology, and his early considerations can be interpreted as a direct impulse towards the development of his theory of functional components. Van der Klaauw's theories, being an alternative to the reductionistic experimental sciences, were among the causes of the fact that in the first half of our century biology in the Netherlands took a course deviating from the development of biology in the Anglo-American countries.

An annotated bibliography of C.J. van der Klaauw with notes on the impact of his work

“…Van der Klaauw was not only a zoomorphologist, but also had great interest in theoretical issues in connection with the schools of morphology, in particular those of Lubosch and Meyer-Abich (e.g., v/dkl 38, 39, 55). This aspect has been discussed before ( Trienes 1988 ). Trienes argued that van der Klaauw developed his concept of holistic biology influenced by, and in confrontation with the German school of idealistic morphology of Lubosch and Meijer-Abich.…”

Adolf Meyer-Abich, Holism, and the Negotiation of Theoretical Biology

“…Meyer-Abich's closest collaborator and correspondent in Leiden was C. J. van der Klaauw (1893Klaauw ( -1972, also a professor of zoology (about van der Klaauw and his relationship with Meyer-Abich, see Trienes 1988;Reydon et al 2005;Dubbeldam 2007). Van der Klaauw and MeyerAbich (who co-edited the journal in its early years along with J.…”

“…Trienes (1988) discusses this at some length, but unfortunately without sufficient appreciation of the historical dynamics of their long and fruitful intellectual relationship after the early 1930s. The earliest evidence in the Meyer-Abich papers of their correspondence comes from May 1933, when they discussed what was thought to be a letter between Richard Owen and Alexander von Humboldt, apparently discovered by van der Klaauw in the course of his study of the correspondence between Owen and van der Hoeven (Ba45; Dubbeldam 2007: 13).…”

“…3 Recent historical literature on both theoretical biology and biomedical holism has noted Meyer-Abich's contributions to various spheres of biological thought and practice, but his presence remains a ghostly one, poorly elaborated and without exploration of the scale and scope of his vigorous scientific and publicistic activity (Trienes 1988;Harrington 1996;Lawrence and Weisz 1998;Moynahan 1999;Laubichler 2001;Hossfeld and Olsson 2003).…”

Holism and Kantian teleology in C.J. Van De Klaauw's structuralization of oecology

“…Cornelis Jakob van der Klaauw was strongly influenced by German idealistic morphology, especially in the early phase of his scientific activities (Trienes, 1988). Notably the German biologist-philosopher Adolf Meyer has had an enormous impact on van der Klaauw's notions concerning the classification of the subsciences of biology.…”