Adolf Portmann: A Thinker of Self-Expressive Life

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Acknowledgments Contents Chapter 1: Introduction References Part I: Paving a Path to the New Biology Chapter 2: New Fronts of Biological Work Chapter 3: The Language of Nature Reread Editorial Note References Part II: Biology, Biosemiotics, Anthropology Chapter 4: Adolf Portmann: The Researcher and the Teacher Researcher and Zoology Teacher The Decade of Syntheses Introduction to the Comparative Morphology of Vertebrates Portmann as Anthropologist Animal Forms and Patterns Portmann and Theoretical Biology Relationship to the World Through Inwardness Self-Presentation Portmann, an Outstanding Teacher Portmann, Public Teacher Portmann, Artist and Philosopher Portmann, Pioneer of Nature Conservation and Environmental Protection Personality, Grandeur and Limits The Special Status of Man The General Theory of Evolution The Postulate of Organismal Biology Perspectives Appendix I. Biographical Data II. Selected Bibliography Dissertation Articles (selected) Books (selected, Portmann published around 58 books and booklets) Works on Portmann References Chapter 5: Novel Ecological Mismatches in the Light of Jakob von Uexküll’s and Adolf Portmann’s Works Introduction Adolf Portmann and Jakob von Uexküll: Theoretical Alignments and Influences Persistence and Change of Cognitive and Perceptual Schemes in the Works of Portmann and Uexküll Human-Induced Rapid Environmental Change and Responses to Novel Cues Conclusions References Chapter 6: Revisiting Basal Anthropology: A Developmental Approach to Human Evolution and Sociality Introduction Theoretical and Historical Background Altricial and Precocial Mammals Humans – A Secondarily Altricial Species Conclusion References Chapter 7: Portmann’s View on Anthropological Difference Humans as a Specific Form of Life The Reception of Portmann’s Biological Concepts in the International Scientific Community Portmann’s Work in the Light of Philosophical Anthropology Portmann’s Programme of Basal Anthropology Conclusion: Portmann’s Answer to the Problem of Anthropological Difference References Part III: Philosophical Aspects of Portmann’s Work Chapter 8: Portmann, Goethe and Modern Biology: Two and a Half Ways of Looking at Nature Portmann, Goethe and Modern Biology Portmann’s Bold Claim: The Autonomy of Self-presentation Portmann’s View of Biology Kinds of Appearances The Case for Unaddressed Authentic Appearances Da Capo: Portmann and Goethe References Chapter 9: Playing Appearances: On Some Aspects of Portmann’s Contribution to Philosophical Aesthetics The Deepest Is the Surface Ostending Form Form Does Not Follow Function The Play of Appearances References Chapter 10: Ptolemaic Man and Copernican Man: In Favour of “Depth Anthropology” Biology and History Man and His Doubles Primary World and “Ptolemaic” Man: The Aesthetic Function The World of the Senses Man as a Telluric Event The Mediocosmos The World of Childhood and Sleep The Pyknic and Feminine World The Mythical World and Imaginative Activity Isomorphism, Supra-Individuality, World of Images Secondary World and “Copernican” Man: The Theoretical Function Homo Nocturnal, Homo Diurnal The World of Rationality Rationality, Technique and Coaction Excess and Pathology of the Intellect: Portmann and Lorenz The Risk of a One-Dimensional Man: Portmann and Morin A “Spiritual Revolution” Biology and Depth Anthropology The Creative The Sleep of Reason Produces Demons References Chapter 11: The “New Morphology” Between Biology and Philosophy: The Hermeneutic Dimension of Portmann’s Thought Introduction: Portmann’s Theoretical Biology as a Literary Genre The Project of the “New Morphology” The Inner Tension of the Morphological Project Cognition of Living Nature and a Typology of Stances Toward the World The Hermeneutic Character of Portmann’s Thought The Living Form as a “Critique of Reason” References Part IV: Historical Context and Later Reception Chapter 12: The Beauty of Organisms: Biological Aesthetics Between Darwin and Portmann Introduction The Function and Appearance of Living Beings Sexual Selection and the Definition of Beauty What Is Beauty? The Hierarchy of Living Beings and the Opposition of Outside/Inside Conclusion References Chapter 13: On the Brink of the Expressible: Adolf Portmann Meets Carl Gustav Jung on Eranos Ground Introduction The Evolution of Eranos The Change of the Guard “The Original World Experience” Instincts and Archetypes Conclusion References Chapter 14: The Czech Reception of Portmann The University of Prague as a German University; “Preadaptation” for the Acceptance of Portmann’s Ideas Czech Protestants, Jiří Němec, and “Bringing Portmann to Bohemia” Zdeněk Neubauer as the Most Eminent Czech Biological Thinker and Cornerstone of Portmannism in The Czech Republic Stanislav Komárek and His Students References Index