Project description
Nineteenth-century European evolutionism and ecology
Originally, ecology was more than a biological subdiscipline. When Ernst Haeckel coined the term in 1866, he envisioned a broader philosophical project rooted in German anthropology and aesthetics. The ERC-funded Oecologie project seeks to recover this neglected dimension by tracing its philosophical sources. It examines Haeckel’s concepts of oikos (habitat) and oikeiosis (adaptation), highlighting the shift from viewing nature through an external deity to understanding the organism’s own capacities for adaptation. The project also explores the human role in this ecology, its links to 19th-century European evolutionism and its intellectual debts to thinkers such as Kant, Humboldt and Goethe. Combining conceptual history, philosophy, history of science, aesthetics and philology, it evaluates the relevance of this framework for contemporary environmental debates.
Objective
Originally, ‘ecology’ was more than just the name of a biological subdiscipline. When its inventor, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel, first coined the term (German: ‘Oecologie’) in his 1866 work General Morphology, he was in fact shaping the contours of a larger philosophical project rooted in German anthropology and aesthetics. The aim of this ERC research project is to uncover this forgotten enterprise and to assess its implications. To do so, it proposes a radical change of perspective, broadening the view from the scientific dimension emphasized by Haeckel’s successors to its philosophical sources. By analyzing Haeckel’s original interpretation of the metaphor of oikos (‘habitat’, ‘dwelling’) and oikeiosis (‘adaptation’, ‘appropriation’), the project traces the shift in emphasis from the viewpoint of an external and distant God to the living organism’s own capacities for adaptation and domestic ‘householding’; it examines the place of the human organism in this ecology, as a natural being, as a human housekeeper, as part of a larger household, and as an aesthetic spectator, representing and visualizing the world from within and from the terrestrial habitat. Using a transversal methodology situated at the intersection of conceptual history, history of philosophy, history of science, aesthetics and philology, Oecologie explores the context of the emergence of this first strand of ecological thought in nineteenth-century European evolutionism (1), its philosophical sources and its debt to earlier thinkers in the German tradition, such as Kant, Alexander von Humboldt and Goethe (2), its ambiguous history of reception both in Germany and abroad (3). Last but not least, it examines the actuality and relevance of such an ecology for environmental studies and the contemporary sciences, which are struggling to regain their lost unity, to refocus on the human being, and to bridge the gap between the scientific and political strands of ecology (4).
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- social sciences sociology anthropology
- humanities languages and literature literature studies history of literature
- humanities philosophy, ethics and religion philosophy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
- Ecology
- philosophy of ecology
- history of ecology
- Haeckel
- German aesthetics
- arts and science
- philosophical anthropology
- early modern cosmology
- geographical thought
- evolutionary theory
- Darwinism
- Oikos
- habitat
- economy of nature
- adaptation
- balance of nature
- biodiversity
- non-epistemic values in science
- aesthetic feeling
- Kant
- Alexander von Humboldt
- Goethe
- Lamarck
- German history of ideas
- environmental studies
- eco-criticism
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
75005 Paris
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.