Modern Nature: The Rise of the Biological Perspective in Germany
In Modern Nature,Lynn K. Nyhart traces the emergence of a “biological perspective” in late nineteenth-century Germany that emphasized the dynamic relationships among organisms, and between organisms and their environment. Examining this approach to nature in light of Germany’s fraught urbanization and industrialization, as well the opportunities presented by new and reforming institutions, she argues that rapid social change drew attention to the role of social relationships and physical environments in rendering a society—and nature—whole, functional, and healthy.
This quintessentially modern view of nature, Nyhart shows, stood in stark contrast to the standard naturalist’s orientation toward classification. While this new biological perspective would eventually grow into the academic discipline of ecology, Modern Nature locates its roots outside the universities, in a vibrant realm of populist natural history inhabited by taxidermists and zookeepers, schoolteachers and museum reformers, amateur enthusiasts and nature protectionists.
Probing the populist beginnings of animal ecology in Germany, Nyhart unites the history of popular natural history with that of elite science in a new way. In doing so, she brings to light a major orientation in late nineteenth-century biology that has long been eclipsed by Darwinism.
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Modern Nature: The Rise of the Biological Perspective in Germany
In Modern Nature,Lynn K. Nyhart traces the emergence of a “biological perspective” in late nineteenth-century Germany that emphasized the dynamic relationships among organisms, and between organisms and their environment. Examining this approach to nature in light of Germany’s fraught urbanization and industrialization, as well the opportunities presented by new and reforming institutions, she argues that rapid social change drew attention to the role of social relationships and physical environments in rendering a society—and nature—whole, functional, and healthy.
This quintessentially modern view of nature, Nyhart shows, stood in stark contrast to the standard naturalist’s orientation toward classification. While this new biological perspective would eventually grow into the academic discipline of ecology, Modern Nature locates its roots outside the universities, in a vibrant realm of populist natural history inhabited by taxidermists and zookeepers, schoolteachers and museum reformers, amateur enthusiasts and nature protectionists.
Probing the populist beginnings of animal ecology in Germany, Nyhart unites the history of popular natural history with that of elite science in a new way. In doing so, she brings to light a major orientation in late nineteenth-century biology that has long been eclipsed by Darwinism.
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Modern Nature: The Rise of the Biological Perspective in Germany
In Modern Nature,Lynn K. Nyhart traces the emergence of a “biological perspective” in late nineteenth-century Germany that emphasized the dynamic relationships among organisms, and between organisms and their environment. Examining this approach to nature in light of Germany’s fraught urbanization and industrialization, as well the opportunities presented by new and reforming institutions, she argues that rapid social change drew attention to the role of social relationships and physical environments in rendering a society—and nature—whole, functional, and healthy.
This quintessentially modern view of nature, Nyhart shows, stood in stark contrast to the standard naturalist’s orientation toward classification. While this new biological perspective would eventually grow into the academic discipline of ecology, Modern Nature locates its roots outside the universities, in a vibrant realm of populist natural history inhabited by taxidermists and zookeepers, schoolteachers and museum reformers, amateur enthusiasts and nature protectionists.
Probing the populist beginnings of animal ecology in Germany, Nyhart unites the history of popular natural history with that of elite science in a new way. In doing so, she brings to light a major orientation in late nineteenth-century biology that has long been eclipsed by Darwinism.
Lynn K. Nyhart is professor of history of science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of Biology Takes Form: Animal Morphology and the German University, 1800–1900, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER ONE Introduction: The Biological Perspective and the Problem of a Modern Nature
Identity, Mobility, and Place Popular Science and Populist Natural History The Biological Perspective and the History of Biology Ghosts and Shadows Tracing the Biological Perspective
CHAPTER TWO Bringing Life to Natural History
Practical and Popular Natural History The Taxidermic Life Against the “Terrorism of System”: Martin on Taxidermic Displays Stuttgart: Representing Nature for the Fatherland Commercial Displays: Nature as Spectacle Bringing Nature’s Past to Life Public/Private, Science/Art, Elite/Popular: Natural History Institutions and Values
CHAPTER THREE The World in Miniature: Practical Natural History and the Zoo Movement
The Zoo as a Cultural Institution Designing a World in Miniature Caring for Animals: From Daily Life to Nature Protection The Circulation of People and Ideas Conclusion
CHAPTER FOUR From Practice to Theory: Karl Möbius and the Lebensgemeinschaft
Karl Möbius: Upwardly Striving Youth Natural History in Hamburg Natural History Activist The Fauna of the Kiel Fjord From Hamburg to Kiel The Oyster and Oyster-Culture Conclusion: Social Mobility and Ecological Theory
CHAPTER FIVE The “Living Community” in the Classroom
Natural History and School Reform Friedrich Junge and The Village Pond The Spread of the Village Pond Gospel The Village Pond Curriculum as Heimatkunde Conclusion
CHAPTER SIX Reforming the Natural History Museum, 1880–1900
The Emergence of the Professional Curator The Institutional Landscape Dual Arrangement The Museum as a Center for Biological Knowledge Conclusion
CHAPTER SEVEN Biological Groups, Nature, and Culture in the Museum
The Kunde Projects The Museum für Natur-, Völker-, und Handelskunde in Bremen (1896) The Altona City Museum (1901) and Heimatkunde The Museum für Meereskunde (1906) Biological Groups, Modernity, and the Representation of Nature
CHAPTER EIGHT From Biology to Ecology
Biologie and Secondary School Reform Biologie as Popular Natural History From Biology to Ecology Pedagogical, Popular, and Professional Ecology
CHAPTER NINE Museum Research and the Rise of Ecological Animal Geography
Exploring Life in the Ocean Making Animal Geography Ecological Ecological versus Historical Zoogeography Ecological Animal Geography and the German Natural History Museum
