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July 26th, 2014 | #1 | ||||||
'God Belief, German Piety'
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Ernst Haeckel's evolutionary Monism and National Socialism
The Scientific Origins of National Socialism The name Charles Darwin inevitably springs to mind when the name of Adolf Hitler and natural selection is mentioned in the same breath. But academic research suggests that it was German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, and not Darwin's seminal, 'The Origin of Species.', that influenced the ideology of National Socialism. A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY? Quote:
Born in 1834 and educated in Berlin, Ernst Haeckel formed the German Monist League. A pantheistic philosophical society that proposed the unity of all organic and physical nature. 'In monism, the universe is only composed of one substance—matter—and any intelligence or “soul” must be an inherent property of that sole substance.' Ernst Haeckel's theories on evolutionary biology and monism attracted many leading atheist thinkers of the day, including none other than Lenin himself. Although, it seems Ernst Haeckel wasn't quite the atheist history has painted him out to be. Quote:
Ernst Haeckel 1834 - 1919 In his major philosophical work, 'Monism as Connecting Religion and Science: The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science' (1892), Ernst Haeckel wrote: 1. “The monistic idea of God, which alone is compatible with our present knowledge of nature, recognises the Divine spirit in all things. God is everywhere. As Giordano Bruno has it: ‘There is one Spirit in all things, and no body is so small that it does not contain a part of the Divine substance whereby it is animated’.” (Haeckel 1895, 78). 2. “Of the various systems of pantheism which for long have given expression more or less clearly to the monistic conception of God, the most perfect is certainly that of Spinoza.” (Haeckel 1895, 79). 3. “Ever more clearly are we compelled by reflection to recognise that God is not to be placed over against the material world as an external being, but must be placed as a ‘Divine power’ or ‘moving Spirit’ within the cosmos itself.” (Haeckel 1895, 15). 4. “The charge of atheism which still continues to be levelled against our pantheism, and against the monism which lies at its root, no longer finds a response among the really educated classes of the present day.” (Haeckel 1895, 80-81). 5. “I conclude my monistic Confession of Faith with the words: ‘May God, the Spirit of the Good, the Beautiful, and the True, be with us’.” (Haeckel 1895, 89). 'Monism as Connecting Religion and Science: The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science' (1892), The deistic worldview of National Socialism may have been directly influenced by the German Darwinist and pantheist thinker Ernst Haeckel... Quote:
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"Man is not God. But he is God's birthplace. God exists and grows in man. If God does not come in man, He never comes~ Hence the German religion is the religion of high faith in man."-Alfred Rosenberg |
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July 27th, 2014 | #2 | |||||
'God Belief, German Piety'
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Historical Essay
Ernst Haeckel’s Alleged Anti-Semitism and Contributions to Nazi Biology Robert J. Richards Quote:
However, Haeckel suggested that matter and spirit is infused when he penned, “Ever more clearly are we compelled by reflection to recognise that God is not to be placed over against the material world as an external being, but must be placed as a ‘Divine power’ or ‘moving Spirit’ within the cosmos itself.” (Haeckel 1895, 15). Quote:
The above quote from a pantheist site suggests that Haeckel's monism was indeed materialistic. So this would clearly explain why the NSDAP rejected Haeckel's monism on grounds that it conflicted presumably with the NS worldview of the unity of 'body, soul, spirit'. I'm having trouble fathoming Haeckel's monism and what he exactly meant by 'God'. I must assume then, as a 'rational' scientist, he wanted to prove that 'God' is matter, and matter is 'God'. That spirit doesn't exist. So it would appear that any influence Haeckel had on the NSDAP, it was from his research as a biologist, and not evolutionary monism. The deistic worldview that is National Socialism, and the pantheism of Haeckel's monism, are very similar, and appear almost identical at first glance. So I can understand why it caused disruption in the party. It had me confused for sure, and Daniel Gasman's (Jewish?!) thesis in 'The Scientific Origins of National Socialism' is plain wrong. Perhaps Gasman got confused due to a lack of information that is available for historians to study about this subject? Myth 19 That Darwin and Haeckel were Complicit in Nazi Biology Robert J. Richards Quote:
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The Anatomy of a Controversy by Daniel Gasman Gasman's rebuttal of Robert J. Richards Quote:
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"Man is not God. But he is God's birthplace. God exists and grows in man. If God does not come in man, He never comes~ Hence the German religion is the religion of high faith in man."-Alfred Rosenberg Last edited by Gerry Fable; July 29th, 2014 at 04:27 AM. |
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July 27th, 2014 | #3 |
Hatespeaker
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Obviously monism wasn't off the table for Hitler, since Schopenhauer believed the world was essentially comprised of Will.
I don't know where the idea that monism believes everything to be "essentially matter" comes from. Every monist I've ever heard of believed that everything was essentially God/Logos/The Absolute and that matter was one aspect of it, like Jesus as an aspect of God or Vishnu as an aspect of Brahma. Likewise I don't know what "matter is the only substance" is supposed to mean. Matter is substance is matter, what's material is substantial, if "spirit" is also a substance what's the difference between spirit and matter? Spirit can't be perceived by humans? Spirit comes from God and is magical? What's the significance of spirit-as-a-substance? Dunno where Hecht was coming from. Maybe he was confused, or thought Haeckel was confusing, and didn't feel like dealing with it. Haeckel seems quite Nazist, though anyone reading Schopenhauer and Darwin could easily come to the same conclusions.
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"Surely people differ in their biologically determined qualities. But discovery of a correlation between some of these qualities is of no scientific interest and of no social significance, except to racists, sexists and the like." |
July 28th, 2014 | #4 | |
'God Belief, German Piety'
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I believe that individual consciousness is somewhere else outside of the brain beyond causal space and time. Carl Gustav Jung termed this the 'acausal' . It's all very esoteric and mind blowing stuff but David Myatt has penned some articles on the 'science' of the acausal. According to String Theory there is at least nine dimensions to our physical reality. What we see, feel and imagine with our senses is only a fraction of reality.
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"Man is not God. But he is God's birthplace. God exists and grows in man. If God does not come in man, He never comes~ Hence the German religion is the religion of high faith in man."-Alfred Rosenberg Last edited by Gerry Fable; July 28th, 2014 at 08:35 PM. |
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July 28th, 2014 | #5 |
Hatespeaker
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Hmm, I'm more inclined to see something's "spirit" as a pattern-in-itself, its formula or blueprint, which is part of a universal order more generally. A person, a song, a number, or a genotype could be said to be comprised entirely of spirit. The evolution of Chaos to Cosmos is the march of the spirit through matter. But I only vaguely understand what I mean by that.
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"Surely people differ in their biologically determined qualities. But discovery of a correlation between some of these qualities is of no scientific interest and of no social significance, except to racists, sexists and the like." |
August 22nd, 2014 | #6 |
'God Belief, German Piety'
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NAZI GERMANY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: POLICIES AND VIEWS
More conjecture about Ernst Haeckel's pioneering research and his influence on the ideology of National Socialism.
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"Man is not God. But he is God's birthplace. God exists and grows in man. If God does not come in man, He never comes~ Hence the German religion is the religion of high faith in man."-Alfred Rosenberg |
October 20th, 2014 | #7 |
'God Belief, German Piety'
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"Man is not God. But he is God's birthplace. God exists and grows in man. If God does not come in man, He never comes~ Hence the German religion is the religion of high faith in man."-Alfred Rosenberg |
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