Emanuel Rádl (December 21, 1873 – May 12, 1942) was an original

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopo ...

, philosopher and a critical supporter of Masaryk´s pre-war democratic

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. He earned international renown by his works on the evolution of neural system and as historian of evolution theories.

Life and thought

One of five children of a village merchant's family in Pyšely (35 km south of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

), Rádl studied biology at Charles University in Prague, where he became assistant professor in 1904 and full professor in 1919. He worked on the

neural system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

, on phototropism and on the evolution of

sight Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the visible spectrum reflecte ...

. Influenced by the German biologist and philosopher

Hans Driesch Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch (28 October 1867 – 17 April 1941) was a German biologist and philosopher from Bad Kreuznach. He is most noted for his early experimental work in embryology and for his neo-vitalist philosophy of entelechy. He has also ...

, he became interested in

philosophy of life (; meaning ' philosophy of life') was a dominant philosophical movement of German-speaking countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which had developed out of German Romanticism. emphasised the meaning, value and purpose of life a ...

and in a large work ''The History of Biological Theories'' (in German 1905–1909, in English 1930; reprint in 1988) he criticized the

evolutionism Evolutionism is a term used (often derogatorily) to denote the theory of evolution. Its exact meaning has changed over time as the study of evolution has progressed. In the 19th century, it was used to describe the belief that organisms deliberate ...

of the 19th century. At the book's climax at the end of Chapter 33, Rádl dismisses Darwinism with the words Under the influence of Masaryk he inclined more and more towards philosophical questions, became a critic of scientific positivism and after the establishment of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

(1918) a public critic of several contemporary tendencies he considered dangerous. He wrote books on Czech and German

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

, on

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

, on the fundamental differences between the West and the East and very early against the misuse of racial theories and against

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. Together with the Protestant theologian J. L. Hromádka he co-founded the Czech Academic

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

and published numerous booklets on various public topics. In 1934 he presided the 8th International Congress of Philosophy in Prague, but after 1935 he was gradually excluded from public life by a serious illness. He died in 1942 in Prague during the German occupation in almost complete isolation. His posthumous book ''Consolation from Philosophy'', in the oppressive mood of war, is a highly personal profession of faith in the lasting values of truth and religion and evoked a lively discussion after its publication in 1946.

"How to save our civilization from decay? This is the desperate question of our time, the more desperate that no one feels the danger."E. Rádl, ''Útěcha z filosofie''.

List of selected publications

In English: *
Geschichte der biologischen Theorien in der Neuzeit, 2nd ed., 1913
' ii vols. (Leipzig, 1905–9), trans. as
The History of Biological Theories
'. (1930) at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

**
''Seit dem Ende des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts''
(1905) ** ii ''Geschichte der Entwicklungstheorien in der Biologie des XIX. Jahrhunderts'' (1909) In Czech and German: * ''New observations on the phototropism of animals ová pozorování o fototropismu zvířat'' (in Czech 1902, in German 1903) * ''The history of evolutionary theories ějiny vývojových teorií v biologii 19. století' (In German 1905 a 1909, 2nd ed. 1913; in Czech 1909 and 2006) * ''A new treaty on the central nerve system ová nauka o ústředním nervstvu' (in Czech 1911, in German 1912) * ''The romantic science omantická věda' (1918) * ''The West and the East. Reflections from a journey ápad a Východ. Filosofické úvahy z cest' (1925) * ''The modern science. Its substance, methods, results oderní věda. Její podstata, methody, výsledky' (1926) * ''The war between Czechs and Germans álka Čechů s Němci' (1928) * ''A history of philosophy ějiny filosofie' (1932) * ''On the German revolution německé revoluci' (1933) * '' Consolation from philosophy �těcha z filosofie' (1946)

References

Bibliography

* * Hermann – Markoš (eds.), ''Emanuel Rádl, vědec a filosof''. Praha 2004. (in Czech) * J. L. Hromádka, ''Don Quijote české filosofie''. Praha 1947. (in Czech) *

Jan Patočka Jan Patočka (; 1 June 1907 – 13 March 1977) was a Czech philosopher. Having studied in Prague, Paris, Berlin, and Freiburg, he was one of the last pupils of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. In Freiburg he also developed a lifelong philos ...

, ''Věčnost a dějinnost. Rádlův poměr k pojetím člověka''. Praha 2007. (in Czech)

External links

Biography
(in Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Radl, Emanuel 1873 births 1942 deaths People from Pyšely People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Czech Protestants Czech biologists Czech philosophers Non-Darwinian evolution Academic staff of Charles University Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk