Jacob Moleschott(9 August 1822 – 20 May 1893) was a Dutchphysiologistand writer on nutrition anddietetics.He was known for his philosophical and political positions in regard toscientific materialismand againstvitalism.He saw a need for scientists to engage in political thinking. He was a member ofGerman Academy of Sciences Leopoldina(since 1884). Although born in the Netherlands, he studied in Germany and later wrote extensively in Italian, especially on "scienza positiva".
Jacob Moleschott | |
|---|---|
 The motto belowDes volkes sebstwaltung ist seine zauberkraft wehe dem der daran ruhret[The people's self-government is its magic power, woe to him who touches it] | |
| Born | Jacobus Albertus Willebrordus Moleschott 9 August 1822 |
| Died | 20 May 1893(aged 70) |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Education | Heidelberg University |
| Era | 19th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | German materialism[1] |
| Institutions | Heidelberg University University of Zürich University of Turin University of Rome |
Main interests | Philosophy of science |
Life
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Jacobus Albertus Willebrordus Moleschott was born in's-Hertogenbosch,Netherlands,to physician Jo(h)annes Franciscus Gabriel Moleschott (1793-1857) and Elizabeth Antonia (or Antonetta) van der Monde (1795-1866).[4]He went to school atCleves,and here he learnt Greek and Latin and was encouraged by the school director Ferdinand Helmke. His Latin and Greek teacher Moritz Fleischer also introduced him to Hegelian philosophy.[5]Moleschott's father had been skeptical of religion and discouraged his son from religion and encouraging the natural sciences at an early age. Moleschott studied medicine atHeidelberg Universityunlike his father who went to Leiden. He studied botany underTheodor Bischoffand chemistry fromWilhelm Delff.Anatomy was taught byFriedrich Tiedemann(1781-1861) and physiology byLeopold Gmelin(1788-1853).[6]His supervisor wasJacob Henle,where he obtained his PhD in 1845. During this period he also became active in a circle of Johann Christian Kapp. He metJustus Liebigin Giessen andLorenz Okenin Bern and began to form networks. He translatedJohannes Mulder's work which he gifted toGabriel Gustav Valentinin Bern. He passed on Valentin's work to Tiedemann. He moved toUtrechtin 1845 and became an assistant to Mulder. He discussed the physiology of vision withFranciscus Cornelis Donders(1818-1889).[7]He soon moved back to Heidelberg University taking an interest in Mulder's work on nutrition and working as a Privatdozent. Moleschott was also interested in socialism as being helpful in bettering the nutrition of people. A debate between Liebig and Mulder strained Moleschott's relationship with Liebig. Liebig held that carbohydrates alone acted as fuel for the body while Moleschott included the roles of protein and fat.[8]He lectured onphysiologystarting in 1847 and publishedPhysiologie der Nahrungsmittel(1850) which received praise including fromAlexander von Humboldt.[9]He also gave special emphasis to experimental methods. He then extended it with a series of public lectures open to all dealing with anthropology through experimental methods.[10]The university under orders from the Interior Ministry of Baden reprimanded Moleschott for his radical political position, "brutal materialism" and atheism leading to his resignation in 1854.[11]Next toCarl VogtandLudwig Büchner,Moleschott stood in the center of the public debates aboutmaterialismin Germany in the 1850s.[12]
Moleschott spent two years without an academic post and began to work on the 15-volumeUntersuchungen zur Naturlehre des Menschen und der Thiere.[13]He also wrote a biography of Georg Forster who he described as a people's scientist.[14]In 1856 a cookbook that proved to be popular by Wilhelmine Rührig titledFrankfurter Kochbuch,later asKochbuch fürʼs Deutsche Hauswas based on the nutritional theories of Liebig and Moleschott.[15]Moleschott advised the consumption of proteins on a daily basis. Another woman Mathilde Reichardt-Stromberg wrote an essay on morality through rational thought rather than religion using Moleschott'sKreislauf des Lebens.[16]Moleschott received a position in the University of Zurich as a professor of physiology in 1856. He and his wife learned Italian while in Zurich. He then moved toTurin(1861) where he was particularly active in building networks between Swiss, German and Italian researchers. In 1867 he received Italian citizenship. He continued to popularize science and physiology in particular. In 1876 he was appointed as a Senator. In 1878 he moved to La Sapienza inRome(1879) as professor of experimental physiology.[17]He used his political position to support a lawyer's position for Lidia Poët who had been refused on the ground of being a woman.[18]He also opposed anti-semitism[19]as well as the Macinato or grist tax.[20]On June 9, 1889 he gave a public talk on the inauguration of a statue ofGiordano Brunoin the Vatican alongside a speech by Gaetano Trezza (1828-1892). He supported the role of rational thought against the intolerance of the Church.[21]
Moleschott married Sophie Strecker in 1849 and they had two sons and three daughters. She was an amateur poet and helped edit Moleschott's works. She suffered from melacholia in Italy and committed suciide in 1891.[22]Moleschott died in Rome.
A bronze bust byEttore Ferrariwas installed in the University of Turin on June 9, 1893, with a commemorative speech byCesare Lombrosowho had translated Moleschott'sKreislauf des Lebensinto Italian.[23]
Writings
editMoleschott explained the origin and condition of animals by the working of physical causes. He was anatheistwhich led to his removal from teaching at the Heidelberg University.[24]His characteristic formulae were "no thought withoutphosphorus"and" the brain secretes thought as the liver secretesbile."
His major works include:
- Lehre der Nahrungsmittel. Für das Volk(Erlangen, 1850; 3rd edition, Erlangen, 1858)
- Physiologie der Nahrungsmittel(1850; second edition, 1859)
- Physiologie des Stoffwechsels in Pflanzen und Thieren(1851)
- Der Kreislauf des Lebens(1852; fifth edition, 1887)
- Georg Forster, der Naturforscher des Volkes.(1854)
- Untersuchungen zur Naturlehre des Menschen und der tiere(1856–93), continued after his death by Colosanti and Fubini
- Sulla vita umana(1861–67), a collection of essays
- Physiologisches Skizzenbuch(1861)
- Consigli e conforti nei tempi di colera(1864; third edition, 1884)
- Sull' influenza della luce mista e cromatica nell' esalazione di acido carbonico per l'organismo animale(1879), with Fubini
- Kleine Schriften(1880–87), collected essays and addresses
- Für meine Freunde(1894)
The Jacob Moleschott archive is held in theArchiginnasio of Bologna's public library.[25][26][27]
Notes
edit- ^Owen Chadwick,The Secularization of the European Mind in the Nineteenth Century,Cambridge University Press, 1990, p. 165: "During the 1850s German... scientists conducted a controversy known... as the materialistic controversy. It was specially associated with the names of Vogt, Moleschott and Büchner" and p. 173: "Frenchmen were surprised to see Büchner and Vogt.... [T]he French were surprised at German materialism".
- ^John Powell, Derek W. Blakeley, Tessa Powell (eds.),Biographical Dictionary of Literary Influences: The Nineteenth Century, 1800-1914,Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001, "Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich (1849–1936)."
- ^Van Raak, Ronald."'Eer de vergeten filosoof Jacob Moleschott'".Filosofie Magazine.Retrieved15 July2023.
- ^Meneghello (2017):40.
- ^Meneghello (2017):44.
- ^Meneghello (2017):47.
- ^Meneghello (2017):57-60.
- ^Meneghello (2017):77.
- ^Meneghello (2017):82.
- ^Meneghello (2017):63.
- ^Meneghello (2017):86-88.
- ^Daum,Wissenschaftspopularisierung,pp. 210, 293–99, 355, 379, 415–6, 426, 443, 456–57, 503.
- ^Meneghello (2017):92.
- ^Meneghello (2017):97.
- ^Meneghello (2017):122.
- ^Meneghello (2017):123.
- ^Meneghello (2017):224-225.
- ^Meneghello (2017):229-240.
- ^Meneghello (2017):240-245.
- ^Meneghello (2017):306-308.
- ^Meneghello (2017):338-348.
- ^Meneghello (2017):70-71.
- ^Meneghello (2017):394-408.
- ^Harmke Kamminga (1995).The Science and Culture of Nutrition, 1840-1940.Rodopi. p. 31.ISBN978-90-5183-818-3.
Moleschott's atheism is much more prominent, for example, and he declares absurd Liebig's opinion that insights into the laws of nature inevitably lead us to the notion of a Being knowable only through revelation.
- ^"Jacob Moleschott archive"(in Italian). Archived fromthe originalon 2011-07-07.Retrieved2021-05-18.
- ^"Fondo speciale Jacob Moleschott"(in Italian). Archived fromthe originalon 2011-07-07.Retrieved2021-05-18.
- ^Busi, Patrizia (September 1, 2011)."Moleschott in the Biblioteca dell'Archiginnasio in Bologna. History of the archivistic fund and ordinary criteria".Giornale Critico della Filosofia Italiana.7(3): 588.RetrievedMay 18,2021.
References
edit- Andreas Daum,Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914.Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998,ISBN3-486-56337-8,2nd. edition 2002, including a short biography of Moleschott.
- Fredrick Gregory:Scientific Materialism in Nineteenth Century Germany,Springer, 1977,ISBN90-277-0760-X
- Meneghello, Laura (2017).Jacob Moleschott - A Transnational Biography. Science, Politics, and Popularization in Nineteenth-Century Europe.Transcript Verlag.doi:10.1515/9783839439708.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Gilman, D. C.;Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Moleschott, Jacob".New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
External links
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- Short biography and bibliographyin theVirtual Laboratoryof theMax Planck Institute for the History of Science
- The Popular Science Monthly, Volume 49Sketch of Jacob Moleschott