Michael J. Olson

Generation, Heredity, and Race: Key Texts in the History and Philosophy of the German Life Sciences, 1745–1845

Table of Contents

Part 1: Generation Theory
  1. Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, “Concerning the Origin of Animals,” in Earthly Venus (1745), trans. Simone Brangier Boas.
  2. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, “General History of Animals: Recapitulation,” in Natural History, General and Particular (1749), trans. William Smellie.
  3. Albrecht von Haller, Preface, in Universal History Treated According to All Its Particular Parts [German edition of Buffon’s Natural History] (1752), trans. Antje Kühnast.
  4. Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, “Essay on the Formation of Bodies, Translated from the Latin by a Friend of Natural Philosophy” (1761), trans. Michael Olson.
  5. Immanuel Kant, “What can be inferred from our argument to the advantage of one or the other of the two orders of nature,” in “The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God” (1763), trans. Michael Olson.
  6. Immanuel Kant, “A tangled metaphysical knot which can either be untied or cut as one pleases,” in “Dreams of a Spirit-Seer” (1766), trans. Michael Olson.
  7. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, “On the Formative Drive and the Business of Generation” (1781), trans. Michael Olson.
  8. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, “Attempt at an Answer to the Prize Question Assigned for the Third Time by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg” (1789), trans. Michael Olson.
  9. Caspar Friedrich Wolff, “On the Properties and Essential Force of Vegetable and Animal Substance” (1789), trans. Michael Olson.
  10. Immanuel Kant, “On the necessary subordination of the principle of mechanism to the teleological principle in explaining a thing as a natural purpose” and “On conjoining mechanism to the teleological principle in explaining natural purposes as natural products,” in Critique of Judgment (1790), trans. Werner Pluhar.
Part 2: Heredity and Race
  1. Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, “Varieties in the Species of Man,” in Earthly Venus (1745), trans. Simone Brangier Boas.
  2. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, “Of the Varieties of the Human Species,” in Natural History, General and Particular (1749), trans. William Smellie.
  3. Immanuel Kant, “Differences of Form and Color of Human Beings in Various Parts of the Earth,” in Lectures on Physical Geography (1757–1759), trans. Michael Olson.
  4. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, “Of the Degeneration of Animals,” in Natural History, General and Particular (1766), trans. William Smellie.
  5. Immanuel Kant, “Of the Different Races of Human Beings” (1775/1777), trans. Michael Olson.
  6. Samuel Thomas Soemmerring, “On the Physical Difference of the Negro from the European” (selection, 1785), trans. Michael Olson.
  7. Immanuel Kant, “Determination of the Concept of a Human Race” (1785), trans. Michael Olson.
  8. Georg Forster, “Something More on the Human Races” (1786), trans. Jon Mikkelsen.
  9. Georg Forster, Preface to “On the Edible Plants of the Islands of the Southern Ocean: A Botanical Commentary” (1786), translation by Gabriele Ferrari.
  10. Immanuel Kant, “On the Use of Teleological Principles in Philosophy” (selection, 1788), trans. Michael Olson.
  11. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Contributions to Natural History (selections, 1790), trans. Antje Kühnast.
  12. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, On the Natural Variety of Mankind (selections, 1795), trans. Thomas Bendyshe.
  13. Christoph Girtanner, On the Kantian Principle for Natural History: An Attempt to Treat this Science Philosophically (selection, 1796), trans. Michael Olson.
  14. Christoph Meiners, Investigations into the Difference in Human Natures (the Differences of Human Types) in Asia and the Southern Countries (selection, 1815), trans. Michael Olson.
  15. Alexander von Humboldt, “General Review of Natural Phenomena: Races,” in Cosmos (1845), trans. E.C. Otté.
Part 3: Race and Empire
  1. Christoph Meiners, “Some Observations on the History of the South Sea Islanders” (1775), trans. Michael Olson.
  2. Georg Forster, “O-Tahiti” (selection, 1780), trans. Antje Kühnast.
  3. Georg Forster, “The Breadtree” (selection, 1784), translation by Antje Kühnast.
  4. Georg Forster, “New Holland and the British Colony in Botany Bay” (selection, 1786), trans. Robert King.
  5. Christoph Meiners, “Historical Report on the True Character of the Slave Trade and the Servitude of the Negroes in the West Indies” (1790), trans. Michael Olson.
  6. Georg Forster, “On Christoph Meiners’ Anthropological Treatises in the Göttingen Historical Magazine” (1791), trans. Michael Olson.
  7. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Letter to Sir Joseph Banks,” in On the Natural Variety of Mankind (1795), trans. Thomas Bendyshe.
  8. Johann Gottfried Herder, “Nego Idylls,” in Letters on the Advancement of Humanity (1797), trans. Michael Olson.
  9. Alexander von Humboldt, “Political Essay on the Island of Cuba” (selection), in Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, during the years 1799–1804 (1826), trans. Thomasina Ross.