Félix-Alexandre Le Dantec (16 January 1869 – 6 June 1917) was a French biologist and

philosopher of science 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 ...

. He has been characterised as "fanatically Lamarckian, atheist, monist, materialist and determinist".

Biography

Le Dantec was born on 16 January 1869 in

Plougastel-Daoulas Plougastel-Daoulas (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department, located in the administrative region of Brittany, northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Plougastel-Daoulas are called ''plougastels'' in French. Breton language Th ...

. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree at the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

in Paris, where he later worked as an associate-trainer in the laboratory of

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, Fermentation, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the la ...

. He then became an assistant in the laboratory of chemical physiology at the ''École pratique des Hautes études'' under the directorship of Emile Duclaux. In 1889-90 he performed his military service in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

as a participant of the Mission Pavie. Inspired by the work of

Elie Metchnikoff Elie may refer to: People * Elie (given name) * Elie (surname) Places *Elie, Fife, a village in Scotland, now part of the town of Elie and Earlsferry *Elie, Manitoba, Canada **Elie, Manitoba tornado See also *Elie Hall, Grenada *Elie House, cou ...

, he supported his doctorate in science with a study on

intracellular digestion Every organism requires energy to be active.Anderson, O. Roger (1 January 1970). "Intracellular Digestion". ''The American Biology Teacher''. 32 (8): 461–467. doi:10.2307/4443206. However, to obtain energy from its outside environment, cells ...

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

(1891). In 1891 he was sent by Pasteur to

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

in order to conduct investigations of endemic yellow fever.Repères chronologiques Service des Archives de l'Institut Pasteur
Félix Le Dantec (1869-1917) In 1893 he was appointed lecturer of

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

at the

University of Lyon The University of Lyon ( , or UdL) is a university system ( ''ComUE'') based in Lyon, France. It comprises 12 members and 9 associated institutions. The 3 main constituent universities in this center are: Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, which f ...

, where he continued studies of intracellular digestion. Later, he returned to Paris (1896), where he worked in the laboratory of

Alfred Giard Alfred Mathieu Giard (8 August 1846 – 8 August 1908) was a French zoologist born in Valenciennes. He served as a professor of zoology at the Faculty of Sciences in Lille. He specialized in parasitology and the genus ''Giardia'' was named after hi ...

at the

École Normale Superieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

and taught classes in

embryology Embryology (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logy, -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the Prenatal development (biology), prenatal development of gametes (sex ...

at the Sorbonne. During this time period, he began publishing a series of works on the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

. In 1900-01 he was stricken by

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, forcing a lengthy stay at the Hauteville sanatorium. Here he engaged in long discussions with a priest on the subjects of

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

and

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...

, publishing the book ''Le conflit'' (1901) as a result. In 1902, he returned to the Sorbonne, where from 1908, he taught classes in general biology. He died on 6 June 1917 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The '' Lycée Félix Le Dantec'' in

Lannion Lannion ( ; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of Côtes-d'Armor, the capital of Trégor and the center of an urban area of almost 60,000 inhabitants. Climate Lannion h ...

is named in his honor.

Evolution

Le Dantec was a supporter of Lamarckian evolution. His book ''Lamarckiens et Darwiniens'' was reviewed in the ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' journal as "a well-intended, but scarcely adequate, endeavour to reconcile the Darwinian with the Lamarckian conception of evolution." He rejected the ideas of

August Weismann August Friedrich Leopold Weismann (; 17 January 18345 November 1914) was a German evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist. Fellow German Ernst Mayr ranked him as the second most notable evolutionary theorist of the 19th century, after Charl ...

and proposed his own biochemical theory of heredity which allowed for the

inheritance of acquired characters Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

.Bowler, Peter J. (1983). ''The Eclipse of Darwinism: Anti-Darwinian Evolutionary Theories in the Decades Around 1900''. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 113-114.

Scientism

Le Dantec was a positivist who found the approach of

scientism Scientism is the belief that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality. While the term was defined originally to mean "methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientis ...

useful: :"I believe in the future of Science: I believe that Science and Science alone will solve all the questions that make sense; I believe that it will penetrate to the mysteries of our emotional life and that it will even explain to me the origin and the structure of the hereditary anti-scientific mysticism that coexists with me in the most absolute scientism. But I am also convinced that men ask themselves many questions that mean nothing. Science will show the absurdity of these questions by not answering them, which will prove that they do not have an answer." (''Grande revue'', 1911)

Selected works

* ''Le déterminisme biologique et la personnalité conscience'', 1897 -

Biological determinism Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, wheth ...

and conscious personality. * ''Evolution individuelle et hérédité'', 1898 - Individual evolution and heredity.
''Lamarckiens et Darwiniens''
1899 -

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

and

Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

. *
Éléments de philosophie biologique
', 1907 Paris: Felix Alcan Elements of Biological Philosophy * ''L'athéisme'', 1907 - Atheism. * ''La crise du transformisme'', 1909 - The crisis of transformation. * ''Le chaos et l'harmonie universelle'', 1911 - Chaos and universal harmony. * ''Contre la Métaphysique. Questions de méthode.'', 1912 * ''La Science de la Vie'', 1912. The Science of Life. * ''Le problème de la mort et la conscience universelle'', 1917 - The problem of death and universal consciousness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Dantec, Felix 1869 births 1917 deaths 19th-century French male writers 19th-century French philosophers 20th-century French philosophers École Normale Supérieure alumni French atheists French biologists French male non-fiction writers French materialists Lamarckism People from Finistère French philosophers of science 19th-century French military personnel Scientists from Brittany