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Oppenheimer
Review by: Frederick B. Churchill
Isis, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Dec., 1987), pp. 639-640
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/231970 .
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A second way to read this work is to Sven-Eric Liedman. Das Spiel der Gegen-
focus on what von Baer inadvertentlyre- sdtze: Friedrich Engels' Philosophie und
veals about himself. We find a man with die Wissenschaften des 19. Jahrhunderts.
strong opinions about the raising of chil- Translated by Michael Tabukasch. 221 pp.,
dren and their education;he tolerateda va- bibl. Frankfurt/NewYork: CampusVerlag,
riety of pedagogicalroutes into the univer- 1984. DM 38 (paper).
sity system. We find him highly critical of
traditionalinstitutions,be they the German In the immense secondary literatureon
gymnasiumor a socially closed urbansoci- Marx and Engels, this book will take its
ety. Von Baer reveals a marveloussense of place as an authoritativeinterpretationof
humorand hints at havingbeen clever with their theory of science. Sven-EricLiedman
verse and languagesas a boy. He dwells on gives careful attention to the nature of the
the impact of his father on his personalde- evidence for whether Engels formulated
velopment but wastes no more than three key theses independentlyof Marx. Deftly
lines on his mother. Having grown up in exploring the connection behind the scien-
Estonia, von Baer demonstratesdeep feel- tific ideas, Liedman makes careful distinc-
ings about Russia as his "fatherland"de- tions between theoretical and ideological
spite the fact that he is equallyproudof his issues and skillfully compares abundant
German culturalheritage. Although an ad- primary and secondary materials. This
mirer of Immanuel Kant, von Baer keeps translation presents only a third of the
all formalphilosophy at arm's length. Swedish work published in 1977, omitting
Finally, the Autobiographyis revealing an overview of the sciences from mechan-
for what the author selects to tell us about ics to history.
his interactionwith contemporarydevelop- Born in 1820, Engels sold his shares in
ments in science. He alludes to exploring the firm Emmen & Engels in 1870 and
the works of Friedrich Schelling but dis- moved to London. This provided the time
misses their impactwith an anecdote. Later (and financial support) for him to begin
he admits to reading Lorenz Oken's work work on Dialektik der Natur in 1873 (pub-
with profit and to erecting his own "intel- lished posthumously in Russia in 1925)
lectual scaffolding"framed on the premise and to publish "Anti-Duihring"during
that "the (original) unity develops into a 1877-1878 in Vorwarts, a Social Demo-
plurality;unity and pluralitycombinedcon- cratic Party organ.
stitute totality," but immediatelyhe derides Engels was preoccupied, like other nine-
this insight as "fantasy"(p. 204). As an ad- teenth-centurythinkers, with Hegel's clas-
mirer of Georges Cuvier's system of anat- sification of the sciences into mechanism,
omy and taxonomy, von Baer remainsfrus- chemism, and organicism. However, he
tratingly elusive about the relationship drew on contemporaries for his under-
between their similar ideas. In defense of standingof the unity of science. From Rob-
accusations that he failed to accommodate ert Grove, as well as Hermannvon Helm-
to the cell theory von Baer adds a fascinat- holtz and Wilhelm Wundt, Engels took
ing four-page footnote that substantiates motion as his fundamental concept. He
more than refutes the charges. Since the even quoted from Ernst Mach's book on
Autobiographyends with his move to St. the conservation of work to establish the
Petersburg in 1834, von Baer does not connection of the concept of energy with
commentupon transmutationtheory and its mechanicism.Yet Lenin would later desig-
implicationsfor anatomy, embryology,and nate Mach the chief enemy of dialectical
anthropology. materialism.
Whereas the originalAutobiographydid The dialecticalkey to Engels's ontology,
not contain them, Oppenheimer has however, was irreductive materialism.He
thoughtfully added name and subject in- came to accept Rudolf Clausius's expres-
dexes to this translation.The edition does sion of the second law of thermodynamics.
contain the original annotated and topo- Using the example of change of chemical
graphicallyarrangedlist of von Baer's writ- qualitiessuppliedby his chemistfriendCarl
ings. Scholars who wish a more complete Schorlemmer,Engels demonstratedhis be-
listing are advised to refer to Boris E. Rai- lief in the dialectical law of change from
kov's 1968biography. quantityto quality, which he then extended
to the organic and social realms.
FREDERICK B. CHURCHILL In biology Engels took up three prob-