Re: a bounced query

[eumeswil.org@hummer.intergate.bc.ca (Thomas Friese)]

>I am forwarding this message to the group. It was bounced to me as list
>owner. Could you cc any replies to the list to Michael as well, please, or
>mail him directly.
>
>Regards,
>
>John King
>
>To: ernst-juenger-l@maillist.ox.ac.uk
>From: Michael Mackenzie <mpm4@midway.uchicago.edu>
>Subject: evolution
>
>Hello, 
>I have a very specific question about Juenger's theories, in this case
>biological rather than political, literary, or the various other topics
>which seem to be more of interest to the list.
>Does anyone on the list know if Juenger seems to subscribe to, or ever makes
>reference to Lamarck's theories of evolution (i.e., that acquired
>characteristics are inherited)? I'm thinking of course of his entymological
>work, but if he ever mentions or alludes to it in his literary of cultural
>musings, I would be interested. Does he ever mention theories of evolution
>specifically?
>Thanks,
>Michael Mackenzie
>Chicago
>
>
>
>
>
Off-hand only this brief excerpt comes to mind, though I know I've seen
others in my readings - I'll pass them on when they come up.

>From 'Aladdin's Problem", translated into English in 1990 by Joachim
Neugroschel and published by Quartet Books:

(with regard to manifestations of power on high levels)
        "The general spiritualization now emerging is also expressed in
tactics. It is astounding to see how inventiveness grows in nature and in
technology when existence is at stake. This applies to both defense and
pursuit. For every missile, an anti-missile is devised. At times, it all
looks like sheer bragadaccio. This could lead to a stalemate or else to the
moment when the opponent says, 'I give up,' if he does not knock over the
chessboard and ruin the game.
        Darwin did not go that far; in this context, one is better off with
Cuvier's theory of catastrophes."  p.29



>From "Eumeswil", translated into English in 1993 by J. Neugroschel and
published by Marsilio:

(speaking of an Moroccan chicken-type bird which "invented the incubator
long before the Egyptians hit upon it")
        "All in all, we may assume that our intelligence is nothing but a
reduced instinct, a branching-off from the Tree of Life with a selection
process that has been intensifying for thousands of years. This conjecture
is not new, but with the decay of history - metahistorically, that is - it
takes on a new meaning. Among other things, the animals could demand from us
the same sacrifices that we have inflicted on them. On this basis we can
judge the banality of the savants who wrestle with the question of whether
animals have intelligence."  pp 132-133.


 I seem to remember "An der Zietmauer" ("To the Wall of Time", untranslated
in English) as having some interesting reflections on evolutionary theory
and taxonomic classification in the first or second chapter. In a different
vein, the last few pages of "Aladdin's Problem" contain some
supra-biological metaphysical reflections. And somewhere in "The Details of
Time" he mentions that an accelerated rate of genetic mutation due to
chemical and radioactive pollution could have advantages for creatures
having to adapt rapidly to suddenly different environments (ie the cause of
a problem may bring its own solution).

Hope this has been somewhat useful - sorry there is'nt more. I'll try to
remember to pass on other titbits I come across. Perhaps you could enlighten
me as to the essential content of Cuvier's theory... or at least the name of
an essential reading? 

Thomas Friese
Association Eumeswil