CHAPTER 8 



THE IDEOLOGY OF WOLFF 



The comparison of Wolff's thoughts about the essential 

 force, which he stated throughout a thirty-year period from 

 the time of his dissertation up to the work which has just 

 been discussed, with his other principal reports >could serve 

 as material for conclusions about Wolff's theoretical ideas. 



To formulate a conclusive opinion is not easy, as 

 evidenced by the diversity of the opinions in literature. 

 Apparently, the first methodical evaluation of Wolff's 

 opinions was given by Kirchhoff,* in whose article there was 

 a special section under the title of "Wolff's Materialism." 

 Comparing Wolff to Haller, Kirchhoff wrote that the latter 

 extracted the "mystery of the invisible existence" of preformed 

 rudiments "from the mystery of the act of creation in Adam's 

 time." In contrast, "Wolff's epigenesis transferred the 

 miracle of development of the organism from the provisional 

 subjects of the world and gave it to the authority of the 

 rational science. By means of exhausting investigations and 

 by means of the sharpness of logic, Wolff made the development 

 of organisms an unquestioned truth." However, in Kirchhoff s 

 opinion another important service also belongs to Wolff: "He 

 established the route for the only possible explanation of 

 life, namely for the mechanical or materialistic explanation, 

 which is based on the solid, rock-like foundation that life 

 phenomena can be explained as originating from material and 



1. However, much earlier Haeckel remarked that "vis 



essentialis" represented to Wolff not something mythical 

 but simply a suitable name for the identification of two 

 real phenomena, namely the autonomic movement of the 

 nourishing solution in the organism and the independent 

 development of the typical forms and structures (BRITISH 

 AND FOREIGN MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL REVIEW, v. 12 

 C1853) pp. 285 - 314). 



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