This dissertation research project will focus on a historical study of scientific debate over mechanisms of evolution. It will concentrate on Germany and Austria from the 1880's through the 1920's and take into account a wider range of Darwinian and non-Darwinian theories than has been analyzed in detail before. Among the better known evolutionists to be considered are August Weismann, Ernst Haeckel, Theodor Eimer, Ludwig Plate, Richard Goldschmidt, and Paul Kammerer. The project will build upon the solid foundation provided by recent literature on social Darwinism in Germany, discipline formation in the life sciences, and cultural aspects of German science, as well as a number of monographs on individual scientists. The attempt will be made to bring out the diversity and contentiousness within the field of evolutionary biology and to show how experimental evidence was used to support opposing views. A special effort will be made to sort out the varieties of Lamarckism and the sources of their appeal during this period of apparent `eclipse of Darwinism.` This project will also consider how advances in heredity, development and cytology around 1900 affected the evolutionary debates as Darwinians and non-Darwinians alike had to reconcile their postulated mechanisms with new findings
