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Background <p>Ernst Haeckel’s biogenetic law was critically revised by several post-Haeckelian morphologists. Among the most significant between the two world wars were the German zoologist Victor Franz and the Russian morphologist Alexei Sewertzoff. Both were committed Darwinians who developed analogous theoretical systems consisting of two interconnected components: a revised version of the biogenetic law and a theory of evolutionary directions. The two biologists knew each other personally, and their developmental theories shared substantial common ground. Nevertheless, the trajectories of their ideas diverged sharply. Sewertzoff founded a powerful school of evolutionary morphology, and his student Ivan Schmal-hausen integrated Sewertzoff’s concepts into the Soviet formulation of the Evolutionary Synthesis and subsequently into the broader international Darwinian movement. Franz, by contrast, attempted to employ his theory to provide a biological justification for Hitler’s dictatorship; after World War II, his theoretical contributions were largely forgotten and remained of interest only to historians of science.</p> Results <p>Despite the apparent similarity of their theories, a crucial difference distinguishes them. Sewertzoff’s theory was highly elaborated, grounded in an extensive body of empirical research, and articulated with maximal scientific precision. Franz, by contrast, remained speculative in both his conception of development and his understanding of evolution. Although he claimed to follow the intellectual lineage of Haeckel and Goethe in his vision of evolutionary progress, his actual argumentation remained decidedly speculative. The speculative nature of his theoretical system made it unusually easy to adapt to ideological purposes during the Nazi regime.</p> Conclusions <p>Franz approached the problem of ontogeny and phylogeny in a manner similar to Sewertzoff; however, he remained at an abstract level and did not engage with the empirical detail thoroughly elaborated by Sewertzoff. As Schmal-hausen had already pointed out, Franz’s theory of evolutionary directions was one-sided, taking into account only a single aspect: centralization accompanied by differentiation. Franz pushed this principle even further, extending it to the sphere of social evolution in an attempt to justify Hitler’s absolute dictatorship. The speculative nature of Franz’ hypothesis made it vulnerable for ideological distortions.</p>

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The differing fortunes of Ernst Haeckel’s biogenetic law: from the Nazi Führerprinzip to the evolutionary synthesis

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月10日

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  • Georgy S. Levit,
  • Uwe Hossfeld

摘要

Background

Ernst Haeckel’s biogenetic law was critically revised by several post-Haeckelian morphologists. Among the most significant between the two world wars were the German zoologist Victor Franz and the Russian morphologist Alexei Sewertzoff. Both were committed Darwinians who developed analogous theoretical systems consisting of two interconnected components: a revised version of the biogenetic law and a theory of evolutionary directions. The two biologists knew each other personally, and their developmental theories shared substantial common ground. Nevertheless, the trajectories of their ideas diverged sharply. Sewertzoff founded a powerful school of evolutionary morphology, and his student Ivan Schmal-hausen integrated Sewertzoff’s concepts into the Soviet formulation of the Evolutionary Synthesis and subsequently into the broader international Darwinian movement. Franz, by contrast, attempted to employ his theory to provide a biological justification for Hitler’s dictatorship; after World War II, his theoretical contributions were largely forgotten and remained of interest only to historians of science.

Results

Despite the apparent similarity of their theories, a crucial difference distinguishes them. Sewertzoff’s theory was highly elaborated, grounded in an extensive body of empirical research, and articulated with maximal scientific precision. Franz, by contrast, remained speculative in both his conception of development and his understanding of evolution. Although he claimed to follow the intellectual lineage of Haeckel and Goethe in his vision of evolutionary progress, his actual argumentation remained decidedly speculative. The speculative nature of his theoretical system made it unusually easy to adapt to ideological purposes during the Nazi regime.

Conclusions

Franz approached the problem of ontogeny and phylogeny in a manner similar to Sewertzoff; however, he remained at an abstract level and did not engage with the empirical detail thoroughly elaborated by Sewertzoff. As Schmal-hausen had already pointed out, Franz’s theory of evolutionary directions was one-sided, taking into account only a single aspect: centralization accompanied by differentiation. Franz pushed this principle even further, extending it to the sphere of social evolution in an attempt to justify Hitler’s absolute dictatorship. The speculative nature of Franz’ hypothesis made it vulnerable for ideological distortions.