"We must strip him to his shirt". The "natural history of man" from Linnaeus to Darwin

Journal title PARADIGMI
Author/s Giulio Barsanti
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2017/2
Language English Pages 14 P. 9-22 File size 175 KB
DOI 10.3280/PARA2017-002002
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

This essay reconstructs the transition from literary to natural anthropology, which took place when man was placed among Primates (Linné, 1735). It then considers the transition to evolutionary anthropology, which occurred when man was first said to descend from another Primate species (Lamarck, 1802). It then analyses the period in which the issue of his origin was broached in terms of the most recent common ancestor (De Filippi, 1864; Cane-strini, 1866; Darwin, 1871) and, after recalling the major debates that ensued (between monogenists and polygenists, on the existence of "races"), it considers the period in which "the natural history of man" was first placed within an institutional framework (foundation of professional societies, publication of manuals, etc.). It focuses on the works of Paolo Mantegazza, who held the first European chair in Anthropology (Florence, 1869), in particular on his quest for a "comprehensive" anthropology.

Keywords: Evolutionary anthropology, Darwin, Mantegazza, Natural anthropology, Natural history of man.

  1. Armocida G. and Rigo G.S. (2007). Mantegazza, Paolo. Dizionario Biografico de-gli Italiani. Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 69: 172-175.
  2. Aldrovandi U. (1637). De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis libri III et de quadrupedibus digitatis oviparis libri II. Bononiae: Tebaldinum.
  3. Barsanti G. (1992). La scala, la mappa, l’albero. Immagini e classificazioni della natura fra Sei e Ottocento. Firenze: Sansoni.
  4. Barsanti G. (2005). Una lunga pazienza cieca. Storia dell’evoluzionismo. Torino: Einaudi.
  5. Barsanti G. (2009a). Fra scienze della terra e scienze della vita. Storia dell’evoluzionismo italiano. La cultura italiana, VIII. Torino: Utet: 406-443.
  6. Barsanti G. (2009b). L’uomo dei boschi. Piccola storia delle grandi scimmie, Roma: La Sapienza.
  7. Barsanti G. (2010). Un “poligamo di molte scienze”. L’antropologia a tutto campo di Paolo Mantegazza. Paolo Mantegazza. L’uomo e gli uomini. Antologia degli scritti antropologici. Firenze: Polistampa: 5-29.
  8. Barsanti G. (2012). Firenze, 21 marzo 1869. L’uomo, le bestie e la virtù. Atlante della letteratura italiana, III. Torino: Einaudi: 274-278.
  9. Barsanti G. and Landi M. (2014). Anthropology, ethnology and comparative psychology: the museum of the “natural history of man”. Paolo Mantegazza and Aldobrandino Mochi. The Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence, V, Firenze: Firenze University Press: 3-21.
  10. Barsanti G. and Landi M. (2014-2016). Paolo Mantegazza: l’uomo e gli uomini, il “genio” e le “razze”. AAE, CXLIV, 2014: 149-160.
  11. Barsanti G. et al., a cura di (1986). Misura d’uomo. Strumenti, teorie e pratiche dell’antropometria e della psicologia sperimentale fra Otto e Novecento. Fi-renze: Giunti.
  12. Belon du Mans P. (1555). L’histoire de la nature des oyseaux. Paris: Cauellat.
  13. Blumenbach J.F. (1795). De generis humani varietate nativa. Editio tertia. Gottingae: Vandenhoek.
  14. Bonnet C. (1745). Traité d’insectologie. 2 vols. Paris: Durand.
  15. Bory de Saint-Vincent J.-B. (1825). L’homme. Essai zoologique sur le genre humain. 2 vols. Paris: Le Normand.
  16. Bradley R. (1721). A Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature. London: Mears.
  17. Broca P. (1866). Anthropologie. Dictionnaire encyclopédique des sciences médicales. In: Mémoires d’anthropologie. Paris, 1989: 1-41.
  18. Büchner L. (1869). Die Stellung des Menschen in der Natur. Leipzig: Thomas.
  19. Buffon G.L. Leclerc de (1749). Histoire naturelle de l’homme, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, II: 429-603, III: 305-530.
  20. Camper P. (1791). Dissertation sur les variétés naturelles qui caractérisent la physionomie des hommes. Paris: Jansen.
  21. Canestrini G. (1866). L’origine dell’uomo. Milano: Brigola.
  22. Chavannes A.C. (1788). Anthropologie ou science générale de l’homme. Lausanne: Hignou.
  23. Cuvier G. et Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire É. (1798). Mémoire sur les orangsoutangs. Journal de Physique, de Chimie et d’Histoire Naturelle, III, 46:185-191.
  24. Darwin C. (1859). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. London: Murray.
  25. Darwin C. (1871). The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. 2 vols. London: Murray.
  26. Daubenton L.J.M. (1764). Mémoire sur les différences de la situation du grand trou occipital dans l’homme et dans les animaux. Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, 1767: 568-575.
  27. De Filippi F. (1864). L’uomo e le scimie. Il Politecnico, XXI: 5-32.
  28. Edwards W.-F. (1829). Des caractères physiologiques des races humaines. Paris: Compère.
  29. Gall F.J. (1798). Des Herrn Dr. Franz Joseph Gall Schreiben über seinen bereits geendigten Prodromus über die Verrichtungen des Gehirns des Menschen und Thiere. Neue Teutsche Merkur, III: 310-335.
  30. Gesner C. von (1551-1558). Historiae animalium. 5 vols. Tiguri: Froschoverum.
  31. Gobineau J.-A. de (1853-1858). Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines. 4 vols. Paris: Firmin Didot.
  32. Huxley T. (1863a). Evidences as to Man’s Place in Nature. London: Macmillan (trad. it. Prove di fatto intorno al posto che tiene l’uomo nella natura. Milano: Treves, 1869).
  33. Kant I. (1798). Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht. Leipzig: Müller.
  34. Knox R. (1850). Races of Man. London: Renshaw.
  35. Lamarck J.B. de Monet de (1802). Recherches sur l’organisation des corps vivants. Paris: Maillard.
  36. Lamarck J.B. de Monet de (1809). Philosophie zoologique. 2 vols. Paris: Dentu.
  37. Lamarck J.B. de Monet de (1820). Système analytique des connaissances positives de l’homme. Paris: Baillière.
  38. Lawrence W. (1819). Lectures on the Natural History of Man. London: Benbow.
  39. Linné C. (1735). Systema naturae. Lugduni Batavorum: Haak.
  40. Linné C. (1746). Fauna svecica. 4 vols. Stockholmiae: Salvii.
  41. Linné C. (1766-1768). Systema naturae. Editio duodecima. 4 vols. Holmiae: Salvii.
  42. Lyell C. (1863). The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man. London: Murray.
  43. Mantegazza P. (1867). Rio de la Plata e Tenerife. Viaggi e studj. Milano: Brigola.
  44. Mantegazza P. (1870-1871). Del metodo dei nostri studj antropologici, Introduzione a Quadri della natura umana. Feste ed ebbrezze. Milano: Brigola, I: 7-34. (1871).
  45. Mantegazza P. (1901). Trent’anni di storia della Società Italiana di Antropologia, Etnologia e Psicologia comparata. AAE, XXXI: 1-7.
  46. Maupertuis P.L. Moreau de (1745). Vénus physique. s.l.
  47. Montaigne M. de (1588). Essais. Paris: Langelier.
  48. Nicolucci G. (1857-1858). Delle razze umane. Saggio etnologico. 2 vols. Napoli: Stamperia del Fibreno.
  49. Prichard J.C. (1813). Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. London: Arch.
  50. Quételet L.A. (1835). Sur l’homme. 2 vols. Paris: Bachelier.
  51. Quételet L.A. (1869). Physique sociale. 2 vols. Bruxelles: Muquardt.
  52. Robinet J.B. (1778). Anthropologie, ou Traité de l’Homme, Dictionnaire universel des sciences morale, économique, politique et diplomatique. Londres: Libraires Associés, V: 333-355.
  53. Tyson E. (1699). Orang-utan, sive Homo sylvestris; the Anatomy of a Pygmie. London: Osborne.
  54. Virey J.-J. (1800-1801). Histoire naturelle du genre humain. 2 vols. Paris: Dufart.
  55. Vogt C. (1863). Vorlesungen über den Menschen: seine Stellung in der Schöpfung. 2 vols. Gissen: Ricker.
  56. Wallace A.R. (1864). The Origin of Human Races and the Antiquity of Man. Journal of the Anthropological Society of London, II: CLVII-CLXXXVII.

Giulio Barsanti, "We must strip him to his shirt". The "natural history of man" from Linnaeus to Darwin in "PARADIGMI" 2/2017, pp 9-22, DOI: 10.3280/PARA2017-002002