A Pact with the Embryo: Viktor Hamburger, Holistic and Mechanistic Philosophy in the Development of Neuroembryology, 1927–1955

Author: Allen, Garland E.

Source: Journal of the History of Biology, Volume 37, Number 3, October 2004 , pp. 421-475(55)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Viktor Hamburger was a developmental biologist interested in the ontogenesis of the vertebrate nervous system. A student of Hans Spemann at Freiburg in the 1920s, Hamburger picked up a holistic view of the embryo that precluded him from treating it in a reductionist way; at the same time, he was committed to a materialist and analytical approach that eschewed any form of vitalism or metaphysics. This paper explores how Hamburger walked this thin line between mechanistic reductionism and metaphysical vitalism in light of his work on the factors influencing growth of neurons into limb buds, and the discovery of nerve growth factor, work carried out with Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen.

Keywords: embryonic induction; Hans Driesch; Hans Spemann; Martin Heidegger; materialism; mechanism; nerve growth factor (NGF); Rita Levi-Montalcini; Stanley Cohen; vitalism

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10739-004-4448-2

Affiliations: 1: Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA (), Email: allen@biology.wustl.edu

Publication date: 2004-10-01