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 *Czech (surnam ...

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 history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

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

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. 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 ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

), Rádl studied biology at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in Prague, where he became assistant professor in 1904 and full professor in 1919. He worked on the neural system of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are 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 jointed ...

, on phototropism and on the evolution of

sight Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

. 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 of life, meaning, value and pur ...

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 deliberat ...

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 Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positivemeaning '' a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. Gerber, ''Soci ...

and after the establishment of

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

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

, on

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

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

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. 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 organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

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 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

**
''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, ''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 19th-century Czech philosophers 20th-century Czech philosophers Non-Darwinian evolution Academic staff of Charles University Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk