Vital Forces, Teleology and Organization by Andrea Gambarotto

Author:Andrea Gambarotto
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

2 Blumenbach on Natural History

In this section I consider some passages from Blumenbach’s Handbuch der Naturgeschichte to illuminate the main characteristics of his classificatory framework. In particular, I focus on Blumenbach’s approach to natural history, which is characterized by two main aspects: (1) description of the “total-habitus” of animals, i.e. their overall lifestyle, which was supposed to complement the description of visible traits advocated by Linnaeus; and (2) a theory of degeneration analogous to the one we find in Buffon’s Premier discours, which he integrated within his theory of the Bildungstrieb. With the theory of the Bildungstrieb, Blumenbach presented a principle that could connect embryology and physiology with natural history, i.e. connect the question of the organization of the living individual with that concerning the general order of living nature.17 In this respect, Blumenbach’s classificatory approach integrates two main traditions of natural history: Linnaeus’ systematics and Buffon’s theory of degeneration.

The Handbuch der Naturgeschichte opens by focusing on the role of the Bildungstrieb in the production of races and varieties through degeneration. As I have already emphasized in chapter “Generation:​ The Debate on the Formative Force and the Question of Ontogenesis,” the formative drive is the origin of the progressive formation that takes place after conception; it supports the conceived structure during its life by offering nutrition and repairing the accidental injuries it may experience. The formative drive may deviate from its usual direction when disturbed or modified by extraneous circumstances originating from (1) material disturbances, which result in organized bodies with preternatural forms, i.e. monsters; (2) the presence of both sexual characteristics in the same individual, which results in a hermaphrodite; (3) procreation between two beings of different species, which results in a bastard; and (4) various causes of gradual degeneration, which result in races and varieties.18

Since for Blumenbach races and varieties are deviations from the original form of a species over time, his notion of race is applicable only to characteristics produced by degeneration that become hereditary. He points out that when particular deviations from an original species form have continued across a long series of generations, it often becomes difficult to decide whether they are races or originally distinct species. To determine such cases, Blumenbach sees no other criterion but analogy. What is unique about Blumenbach’s approach is precisely the description of the “total-habitus,” the specific lifestyle of each animal, which takes into account factors like the breeding period of birds and to the role of the female in the building of the nest, or the unique reproductive force of amphibians.

In fact, Blumenbach’s Handbuch der Naturgeschichte is full of descriptive natural history which provides an index of animal characteristics – beginning with the traits common to the whole animal kingdom and moving through to those particular to single classes. He starts with mammals and goes on to birds, amphibians, fishes, insects, worms, plants, minerals, stones, and fossils. The common feature of all sections is the description of the total-habitus. To illustrate what Blumenbach means by this term, I will extract some of his discussion of mammals and birds.

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