I-LZ THE HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 



Aristoteleanism in alliance ivith the Church 

 It was just on account of its semi-scientific nature that it was extremely 

 difficult to controvert this idea with reasons and proofs, seeing that it was 

 at the same time cherished by the authority of the Church and protected by 

 the latter's powerful resources, both spiritual and temporal. In the first part 

 of this work it has been shown how the champions of natural science during 

 the Renaissance took up the cudgels against Aristoteleanism, which was 

 upheld not only by the authority of the Church, but also by the boundless 

 respect that that age entertained for antiquity; how Cusanus and Bruno 

 asserted the infinity of cosmic space in contrast to Aristotle's spherical uni- 

 verse; how Francis Bacon ruthlessly exposed the abstract structural system 

 of the ancient philosophy and urged that research should be based on obser- 

 vations of nature itself; how Galileo, by means of observational material 

 and mathematically conclusive proof, demolished the theory of the immu- 

 table regularity of the celestial regions and at the same time proved the 

 purely mechanical obedience to law of the phenomena of motion here on 

 earth; how Harvey through his discovery of the circulation of the blood 

 proved a purely mechanical action in the life-process which the old theory 

 considered to be the centre of animate life. But however many defects could 

 be proved against the old system in detail, it nevertheless still remained 

 unaff"ected, owing to its consistently carried-out construction; it required an 

 entirely new system of thought in place of the old before the latter could 

 definitely break down. Throughout the seventeenth century keen-minded 

 thinkers set about creating such a system, and the strength that underlay 

 Aristotle's cosmic idea, its unassailable consistency and perfect lucidity, had 

 never been demonstrated so clearly as now, when, already condemned to 

 fall, it made a stand against the assaults which finally shattered it. A survey 

 of this struggle between Aristoteleanism and the new systems of thought is 

 so much the more necessary as an introduction to the history of modern biol- 

 ogy as it was actually during this struggle that not only the natural science 

 of our own time, but the whole idea of life as conceived by present-day 

 humanity in general came into being. Nevertheless the modern conception 

 of nature by no means rests solely upon the purely mechanical foundations 

 laid by Galileo. It is self-evident that in it there are very considerable ele- 

 ments of vanquished Aristoteleanism. But besides him there appeared also 

 in opposition to the latter theory philosophers who from neo-Platonism and 

 other similar systems of ideas adopted a purely mystical view of nature. 

 This too has possessed its attractive sides for the human mind, especially the 

 advantage of making possible a uniform conception of both the material 

 and the ideal aspects of existence; during the Renaissance in particular it won 

 many adherents — Bruno is the most brilliant example — and it has con- 

 sequently left a strong impression upon modern natural science. In the fol- 

 lowing chapter an attempt will be made to illustrate how these elements in 

 the conception of nature in our own time arose. 



