Wilhelm Roux and the rest

developmental theories 1885–1895

pp. 16-18

in: Martin Heidegger, Ontologie, Frankfurt am Main, Klostermann, 1988

Abstract

This last essay in the series commemorating Wilhelm Roux (1850–1924) is devoted to speculative developmental theories (or models as they would be called today) proposed in the decade following Roux's manifesto on Entwickelungsmechanik (see Sander 1991a). That decade, 1885–1895, not only saw Roux's pioneering experimental papers discussed in previous essays and the influential books of August Weismann (1834–1914) on his Keimplasmatheorie, but also the competing theories on animal development proposed by Hans Driesch (1867–1941) and Oscar Hertwig (1849–1922). Towards the end of this period, Roux founded his Archiv für Entwickelungsmechanik, demonstrating the new discipline's consolidation.